Chelsea Won The UEFA Super Cup Thanks To Kepa!

It feels like an eternity ago that Chelsea lifted the Champions League trophy in Porto, but they have picked up from where they left off by holding their nerve against Villarreal in the UEFA Super Cup.

The Blues looked to be faced with the same fate as Manchester United when their clash in Belfast went all the way to penalties after goals from Hakim Ziyech and Gerard Moreno in regulation time.

Chelsea triumph thanks to Kepa

However, it quickly became apparent that Tuchel would be taking a different tact with penalties compared to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as he made the inspired decision to swap goalkeepers.

In what amusingly felt like an exact reverse of the infamous 2019 Carabao Cup final incident, Kepa Arrizabalaga was brought on to replace Edouard Mendy for the ensuing penalty shootout.

And it proved to be a stroke of genius with Kepa essentially winning the trophy for Chelsea by way of making crucial saves from Aissa Mandi and Raul Albiol.

Superb from Mendy and Kepa

Well, there you have it, perhaps following the statistics really is the way forward and you've got to credit Mendy for creating minimal fuss when making way for his teammate in the dying moments.