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Chelsea 1 Villarreal 1 (6-5 on pens): Sub keeper Kepa is shootout hero as Tuchel’s Blues win dramatic Super Cup
AS club record signings go, Kepa Arrizabalaga has been a bit of a disaster.
And at least the £71.6million keeper only has a few more hours left as Chelsea’s most expensive capture.
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Yet equally, in the Chelsea history books, there will be an asterix By Kepa’s name.
Apart from throwing a stop at Wembley, he still helped his team to a European final a few months later and here in Belfast, helped the club get their hands on yet another trophy.
Watching the drama unfold at a London hotel was Romelu Lukaku will complete a £97.5million million return to Stamford Bridge from Inter Milan.
Lukaku, earlier pictured arriving at Biggin Hill airport on a private jet, will not have to do much to better Kepa’s all-round contribution to the club as the Spanish keeper is not even Chelsea’s number one.
Ironically, Lukaku missed a penalty to cost Chelsea 2013 Super Cup and here, Kepa saved one to win the same trophy to get one over fellow countryman Unai Emery.
The Spanish keeper will forever be remembered as the bloke who refused to be substituted ahead of a penalty shoot-out in the 2019 Carabao Cup final against Manchester City.
Nevertheless, when Kepa leaves Chelsea, he will still be fondly remembered as helping them to a trophy, even if it was the Uefa Super Cup at the expense of Villarreall.
Unai Emery’s team beat Manchester United in the Europa League final 11-10 on penalties with David de Gea missing the decisive spot-kick.
The way De Gea approached that penalty in Gdansk, he was always never going to score. But here in Belfast, Kepa - who replaced Mendy at the end of extra-time - was nailed on to be the hero.
He looked focused but pumped up. And, having already saved Villarreal’s second penalty from Aissa Mandi, he flung himself low to the right in sudden death kicks to deny Raul Albiol after Toni Rudiger stuck his away.
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Tuchel revealed it wasn't just a spur of the moment thing - but a decision based off of deep technical analysis
He told BT Sport: "It was not spontaneous. We talked about it with the goalkeepers when we came and had our first cup game against Barnsley.
"We had some statistics that Kepa has the best percentage when it comes to saving penalties.
"The analysing guys and goalkeeper coaches introduced me to the data, and then we spoke to the players and told them that this could happen when we play in knockout games.
"It’s fantastic how Edou[ard Mendy] accepts it. We needed to do what was good for the team.
"There is proof that Kepa is better at this discipline.
"These guys are true team players. I am happy for Kepa and happy for Edou."
So, Kepa danced in front of the Chelsea fans, who two-and-half years ago, understandably wanted him out of their club.
Kepa refused to be replaced by Willy Caballero during extra-time in the Carabao Cup final after going down with what appeared to be cramp.
He defied Maurizio Sarri and stayed on the pitch and then saved just one penalty with City winning 4-3 in the shoot-out. The men made their peace after Kepa told Sarri he was never suffering from cramp and was wasting time.
And then in the Europa League semi-finals against Frankfurt in 2019, Kepa saved two penalties to help Chelsea through to the final in Baku, where they thrashed Arsenal 4-1.
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DREAM TEAM IS BACK!
Funnily enough, the manager of Arsenal that night was the same bloke who was cursing Kepa as manager of Villarreal.
In the shoot-out, there was also a goal for Jorginho who was grateful for England’s poor penalties in the Euro 2020 final as he missed one.
And substitute Mason Mount also put one away and he would have been a penalty taker for Gareth Southgate at Wembley had he still been on the pitch.
Unbelievably, only three of the 47 Super Cup finals have gone to penalties, with Chelsea being involved in all three winning here, losing against Bayern Munich in 2013 and Liverpool in 2019.
Thomas Tuchel’s side made hard work of what threatened to be a straightforward evening. They could certainly have done with Lukaku.
Everything was fine until goalscorer Hakim Ziyech suffered pre-season misery for the second year running and suffered a shoulder injury.
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And then, as Villarreall improved massively in the second half, Chelsea needed a focus point, a player who could challenge the Spanish defence physically and create chances for other Chelsea players.
With Olivier Giroud no longer around to be unleashed off the bench, there was no such player for Thomas Tuchel to mix things and his substitutions did not really work.
In training the previous night, Ziyech scored a goal of such power that the ball resembled a missile flying through the air.
Yet the opening goal could not have been more different as it was a fortunate, mishit effort as he failed to get a proper connection with his left foot after a cross from Kai havertz.
Kurt Zouma wasted a decent chance after an outstanding free-kick from Ziyech and this was his last contribution as he writhed in agony after an innocuous challenge during a Villarreal attack.
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Emery’s team were much better in the second half and deserved their leveller. After some fine saves, Mendy was finally beaten with 17 minutes left when Gerard Moreno delivered a brilliant finish into the top corner after a mistake by Rudiger.
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Jorginho missed a very good chance and Cesar Azpilicueta dived to try and win a penalty before the match went into pot-kicks.
Yet for the second time inside three months, Azpilicueta ended up lifting another European trophy for Chelsea.
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Kepa and Mendy react after Chelsea Super Cup penalty success over Villarreal
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