Kepa Arrizabalaga’s time at Chelsea has been turbulent to say the least. Arriving at Stamford Bridge as the world’s most expensive goalkeeper thanks to his £71.6 million price tag, Kepa became synonymous with blunders, mistakes, and inconsistency, losing his place as Chelsea’s number one once Edouard Mendy comes around. The Spaniard also gained some notoriety after an infamous spat with then-head coach Maurizio Sarri in the 2019 League Cup final, in which Kepa refused Sarri’s decision to take him off prior to a decisive penalty shootout. However, in Wednesday night’s 2021 UEFA Super Cup, Kepa managed to redeem himself as he performed brilliantly in the match’s penalty shootout, denying two Villarreal players to allow Chelsea to emerge victorious in the shootout and clinch their second Super Cup title.
Chelsea, as winners of the 2020/21 UEFA Champions League, took on 2020/21 UEFA Europa League winners Villarreal at Windsor Park in Belfast, Northern Ireland for this year’s Super Cup title. The match itself ended in a 1-1 stalemate after 120 minutes, with Hakim Ziyech having given Chelsea the lead in the 27th minute before Villarreal equalized through Gerard Moreno in the 73rd minute. No further goals were scored in 30 minutes worth of extra time, forcing the tie to be settled on penalties.
The Blues’ head coach Thomas Tuchel made a vital substitution one minute before the end of extra time, taking off Mendy for Kepa as the Spaniard edged out the Senegalese in terms of penalty-saving statistics. Kepa had saved 5 out of the 22 penalties that he had faced in his career, compared to Mendy’s 2 saves in 26.
Chelsea fans were rightfully wary of this decision due to Kepa’s prior reputation during his time at Stamford Bridge and they were even bracing for the worst possible outcome after Kai Havertz had missed Chelsea’s first penalty and Moreno cooly dispatched Villarreal’s first.
However, after Cesar Azpilicueta drew the scoreline level, Kepa stepped up to the plate and denied Aissa Mandi’s attempt, allowing Chelsea to seize the advantage after Marcos Alonso slotted home his turn.
The two sides then exchanged penalty successes, with Mason Mount, Jorginho, and Christian Pulisic succeeding with their duties for Chelsea, while Villarreal remain well and truly alive in contention thanks to superb penalties from Pervis Estupinan, Moi Gomez, Dani Raba and Juan Foyth.
Antonio Rudiger placed Chelsea ahead in sudden death with his penalty, before Raul Albiol went up next for Villarreal.
Former Real Madrid and Napoli defender Albiol blasted his penalty towards the goal but Kepa was quicker to the draw, diving correctly to the right to deny the Villarreal captain. The former Athletic Bilbao keeper then found himself being swarmed by his jubilant teammates and members of the Chelsea coaching staff as his save clinched this year’s Super Cup for the Blues.
Tuchel revealed after the match that the Mendy-Kepa substitution was something that he had planned for penalty shootouts since February of this year.
“It wasn’t something spontaneous,” Tuchel said as quoted from both BT Sport and BBC Sport, “We talked about it with the goalkeepers after the first cup game against Barnsley. Statistically-wise Kepa is better at saving penalties. The men doing analysis and the goalkeeping coaches has shown me the data. I’ve talked to both Mendy and Kepa and told them this could happen when we play in knockout games.”
Mendy was gracious when he was replaced by Kepa, embracing his fellow goalkeeper and even appearing alongside him in a post-match interview.
“I’m happy because we won,” said Mendy as quoted from BBC Sport, “I knew since last year that if Kepa came on the pitch he would help the team.”
“It’s not a typical situation but we arrived to penalties after Edouard did a fantastic job. Finally we won and we are so happy,” Kepa said in the same post-match interview, “I was ready because I knew this could happen. I tried to be ready, mentally and physically.”
Two years ago Kepa was widely condemned due to his feud with Sarri leading to Chelsea losing the League Cup to Manchester City on penalties. But now, Kepa’s the hero for Chelsea as he stepped off the bench to deny Villarreal the Super Cup on penalties – a redemption arc completed.