Welcome to the European Super Cup, where the football is only half the story. Tonight's match between Paris Saint-Germain and Aston Villa in Salzburg comes with a side of cosmic drama - a solar eclipse, the first since 1999, darkened the skies, and one fan, Simon McMahon, marked the occasion by admitting he's been on holiday and drinking whisky for four weeks solid. Priorities, people.

The teams are out, with PSG in their traditional blue and red, while Villa sport a light blue that's almost white - a tribute, we're told, to the Holte End mosaic. Lovely. Also lovely is the referee, 34-year-old Somali official Omar Artan, who was royally stitched up by the Trump-Infantino Clown Collective at this summer's World Cup. Here's hoping he enjoys the showpiece he so richly deserves.

PSG, the European champions, start with a new £43m signing, Maghnes Akliouche, on the right wing, while Villa hand debuts to £38m João Gomes and 17-year-old Brian Madjo, a six-foot-four unit leading the line. Unai Emery, making his fourth Super Cup appearance after runner-up finishes with Sevilla in 2014 and 2015 and Villarreal in 2021, was positively gushing pre-match: "We are motivated and excited... we are playing the best team... we have some young players... but we are ready."

And what a game it's been. PSG took the lead through Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who jinked in from the left, ghosted past Cash, and powered a shot into the roof of the net from 12 yards - hit so hard the keeper had no chance. But Villa's young guns have been causing havoc. Madjo, having missed three good chances, finally rippled the net with a forceful shot from a tight angle, becoming the youngest scorer in Super Cup history at 17, beating Patrick Kluivert's record by a good couple of years. Somewhere in the multiverse, Madjo already has a hat-trick.

As one fan, Andrew Goudie, mused: "Five million euros for the winners, four million for the losers. Not a lot of difference there. Maybe the Uefa coefficient points make up for it, but who understands them?" Indeed. And Justin Kavanagh, clearly a man of refined tastes, asked: "Where's the hydration break? I need a cup of tea and there are surely one or two Villa defenders who need their twisted blood changed after Kvaratskhelia's hi-jinks."

With the score at 1-1 at half-time, this one's far from over. As Peter Oh, reminiscing about Salzburg, noted: "The last time I was in Salzburg I remember standing in a cobblestoned plaza enjoying a juicy sausage with oozing cheese filling (it tastes better than it sounds), a soft, buttery cinnamon pretzel and a cold glass of Stiegl. Good times." Indeed. Stay tuned - there's more football, and possibly more eclipse, to come.