Syndicated reporting provided by Stats Perform and reviewed by the SoccerNews editorial team.
Aston Villa’s friendly defeat to Bayern Munich gave a good indication of their level ahead of Wednesday’s UEFA Super Cup meeting with Paris Saint-Germain, believes Pau Torres.
Villa were beaten 2-1 by the Bundesliga champions in Hong Kong on Friday, as they brought the curtain down on their three-match tour of Asia.
Unai Emery selected a relatively strong team despite Villa being without some of their senior players who enjoyed deep runs at the World Cup, including England duo Ollie Watkins and Ezri Konsa, and Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.
Torres played 67 minutes at centre-back alongside Victor Lindelof, and new signing Joao Gomes got on the scoresheet for Villa, albeit it was only a consolation.
Kim Min-jae opened the scoring from a set-play in the first half, before Luis Diaz scored what proved to be the winner in the 73rd minute, cutting inside from the left and lashing his shot in off the underside of the crossbar.
Villa only had half as many shots as Bayern (eight to 16) and lost the expected goals (xG) battle by 1.12 to 0.28.
But Torres felt they competed well enough to suggest they have every chance of upsetting European champions PSG in Salzburg on Wednesday.
“I think we played well against a really good team. The first half was more or less equal; they scored with a set-piece and we need to improve that part, to correct things,” he told the club’s website.
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) August 7, 2026
“We now have a couple of days to prepare for the final, but I think we need to play like today.
“It’s always good to play against a team like them; it’s always good to play them during pre-season to test ourselves and to know, more or less, which level we are at.
“I think we competed really well today, and this is the work that we need to do for the rest of the season.”
Villa, who previously won the UEFA Super Cup in 1982 when they were European champions, could become the third English club to lift the trophy on multiple occasions, after Liverpool (four times) and Chelsea (two).
PSG edged out Tottenham on penalties in the 2025 edition, and they could become the first back-to-back Super Cup winners since Real Madrid in 2016 and 2017.
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