Aston Villa's Super Cup Challenge Without Emiliano Martinez

Aston Villa will walk out to face Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Super Cup without their biggest personality between the posts.

Emiliano Martinez, fresh from the emotional high and crushing low of another World Cup run with Argentina, has been left at home by Unai Emery for Wednesday night’s showdown at the Red Bull Arena in Salzburg.

The call is deliberate, not forced. No injury, no controversy. Just a manager drawing a hard line on rest.

Martinez played all the way to the 2026 World Cup final, where Argentina fell 1-0 to Spain after extra time on 19 July in New Jersey. Barely weeks later, Emery has decided he has seen enough of his World Cup warriors for now.

And Martinez is not alone.

Ezri Konsa and Ollie Watkins, both key figures in England’s third-place finish, are also missing from the squad. The pair helped England beat France 6-4 in a wild third-place play-off on 18 July in Miami, another emotionally and physically draining night on the other side of the Atlantic.

Emery has parked all three.

Explaining the decision to French outlet RMC, the Aston Villa boss was blunt: “I gave them four weeks of holiday, and it was really necessary.”

So the Super Cup stage belongs to Marco Bizot.

The 35-year-old Dutch goalkeeper, Martinez’s deputy, is expected to start against PSG, handed the task of keeping out one of Europe’s most expensively assembled attacks on a night when many would have expected the World Cup winner to be front and centre.

For Villa, it is a calculated gamble. A European trophy is on the line, yet the long season ahead looms larger.

Reports from Argentina indicate that Martinez will be back at Bodymoor Heath soon, with the clear plan for him to return in time for Aston Villa’s Premier League opener against Brighton on 23 August. Before that, Villa have one final tune-up: a friendly against Borussia Monchengladbach next Saturday.

Emery has drawn his battle lines early this season. Rest now, or pay for it later.