Uefa Super Cup: Jorginho dances out of Windsor on night NI arrived on global club stage
- Published
Chelsea clinched their Super Cup victory as they edged out Villarreal 6-5 on penalties after the game finished 1-1 after 120 minutes of action
As midnight approached in south Belfast, the summer air at Windsor Park was lit up with the laughter of Jorginho as he jogged across the ticker-tape strewn pitch before heading down the tunnel.
He was barefooted, shorts hoisted high, dancing between the ticker-tape and clearly enjoying his final seconds at the scene where - just over half an hour beforehand - he and his Chelsea team-mates had raised the Uefa Super Cup aloft.
The last time the Italian midfielder was celebrating a trophy, of course, was his country's Euro final victory over England exactly a month ago at Wembley.
The somewhat random nature of Jorginho's exit from the pitch was an interesting snapshot of how the 2021 Super Cup was played at Windsor Park, but not a Windsor Park like anyone has seen before.
When Uefa roll into town, they clearly roll in on a scale that football in Northern Ireland never has experienced before from an organisational and event-management perspective.
This was their annual flagship curtain-raiser to the European season and Belfast was their city of choice. Sceptics will dismiss the occasion as a glorified pre-season friendly and, let's face it, nobody would pretend that the chance to play in the Super Cup is anywhere near the thoughts of teams that win the Champions League and Europa League.
However, irrespective of your feelings on the importance of the trophy in a competitive sense, anyone among the 13,000-crowd that attended Windsor Park on Wednesday night to see Chelsea beat Villarreal 6-5 on penalties will surely have struggled to be in any doubt about its importance on the European football calendar.
IFA says occasion will have legacy benefits
Windsor has witnessed many iconic Northern Ireland internationals during its 116-year history, with famous giant-killing victories over England and Spain, and the win over Greece that sealed Euro 2016 qualification, the most recent to spring to mind.
And, as home to Irish Premiership champions Linfield, a host of huge domestic and European club clashes have also taken place at a ground that underwent a £30m redevelopment project six years ago.
A view to hosting major events such as the Super Cup was one of the driving forces behind that redevelopment and the Irish FA believes there will be wide-ranging legacy benefits to the stadium from the work that was carried out there to make Wednesday night happen.
The sense of occasion could be acutely felt even just while trying to gain entry to the ground which, from a media perspective, involved trips to through a number of temporary marquees to collect accreditation, all administered in a slick fashion.
Impressive branding is not always an indicator of the success of an event, but even those driving past Windsor on Belfast's Boucher Road will have been drawn to the huge billboards that were decorating the stadium and the adjacent leisure centre.
All that is great, but what about the match? The biggest crowd at a sporting event in Northern Ireland since the Covid-19 outbreak in March 2020 had not just come to admire Uefa's fancy decorations.
Well, in a stadium renowned for the noise generated by the Green and White Army, the pre-match atmosphere generated by the 1,000 Villarreal fans was properly impressive.
The 1,000 Villarreal fans made Windsor Park's Kop stand their own during Wednesday's game
Indeed, with many of them housed in the Kop stand, they were worthy of occupying - albeit for one night only - what is the pulsating heartbeat of the ground on international nights.
There were many more Chelsea supporters and, while pretty quiet pre-match, they found their voice as the action began, no doubt buoyed by a hugely impressive start by their side.
Thomas Tuchel's Champions League winners were totally dominant for the opening 40 minutes, taking a 1-0 lead into the break thanks to Hakim Ziyech before the Spaniards hit back in the 73rd minute through Gerard Moreno.
With the inevitable host of substitutions being made from early on in the second half, the pace of the match dropped significantly after Villarreal's equaliser, with a pre-season friendly feeling prevailing for the last 15 minutes of normal time and extra time - something which Uefa should surely dispense with for future Super Cups.
However, the shootout ensured the occasion ended in dramatic fashion, and the zealous nature of the Chelsea players' and supporters' celebrations after Kepa's save from Raúl Albiol was an interesting insight into what lifting the Super Cup clearly meant to them.
Inevitably there will now be questions for the Irish FA and the Executive to answer over how many supporters will be allowed to attend Northern Ireland's World Cup qualifier against Switzerland at Windsor next month.
That is very much a conversation that needs to be had but, for now, Northern Ireland football can reflect on a night when its flagship stadium announced itself on the global club stage.
And, of course, Jorginho can have his Windsor dance for now - but there will be very few in the stadium hoping he is having a similar dance when Italy visit in November.