Last month, European champions Chelsea failed to make it a double by winning the Super Cup a second time in their history following the success of 1998.
The Londoners lost the contest in Monaco to Spain’s Atletico Madrid (1-4) to become the sixth UK side to lose the season curtain-raiser in European football following Rangers 1972; Liverpool 1978, 1984; Manchester United 1999, 2008; Nottingham Forest 1980; and Arsenal 1994.
The following is a rundown of UK winning teams in the UEFA Super Cup:
Following their first European Cup triumph, in 1977 in Rome, Liverpool took on Hamburg in the Super Cup.
The Reds played the first leg away and shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw.
But, it was a totally different story at Anfield as Liverpool crushed the Germans 6-0.
In the second leg, Hamburg had former Liverpool winger Kevin Keegan in their front line.
When the second UK success in the Super Cup came along in 1979, Nottingham Forest, who had ousted Liverpool in the first round of the Champions Cup before beating Sweden’s Malmo 1-0 in the final, had to test their wits against Cup Winners’ Cup holders Barcelona.
Following a narrow 1-0 win at the City Ground, Forest then held Barca to a 1-1 draw at the Nou Camp to complete a 2-1 aggregate victory.
Aston Villa, who in their 1982 European Cup debut went all the way to lift the trophy, made it a memorable double and held aloft the Super Cup as well.
Again, Barcelona were on the receiving end as Villa beat the Catalans 3-1 on aggregate. After losing 0-1 away, Villa went berserk at home to emerge victorious 3-0.
The UEFA Super Cup stayed on British shores in 1983 as Aberdeen followed Aston Villa’s triumph and beat Hamburg.
This was also the first time that a side from Britain, victors of the Cup Winners’ Cup, had toppled the European Cup holders.
Under the management of the shrewd Alex Ferguson, the Dons had upset Real Madrid 2-1 in the Gothenburg showdown.
Hamburg also surprised in the European Cup final, defeating mighty Juventus 1-0 in Athens.
Sequel to their 0-0 draw away, Aberdeen then outshone Hamburg at Pittodrie by two clear goals.
In their return to Europe from suspension in 1991, English clubs, represented by Manchester United, showed that the appetite for success was still there as they lifted the Cup Winners’ Cup by toppling Barcelona 2-1 in the final.
Due to the political troubles in ex-Yugoslavia, the 1991 Super Cup challenge match was played over one leg at Old Trafford.
United beat Red Star 1-0.
Yet another Super Cup success via the Cup Winners’ Cup came through Gianluca Vialli’s Chelsea in 1998.
On their way to the cup final in Stockholm, the Blues clashed with Vialli’s fellow Italian countrymen Vicenza in the semi-finals.
Vialli, at that time acting as player manager, also formed part of the Chelsea side that beat Stuttgart 1-0 in the final showdown.
Chelsea’s rivals in the Super Cup were the formidable Read Madrid who had beaten Juventus 1-0 in European Cup final in Amsterdam.
The Blues toppled Real 1-0.
In 2001, UEFA Cup winners Liverpool edged European champ-ions Bayern Munich 3-2 to mark the seventh Super Cup honour for British clubs.
It was also the Reds’ second success in the Monaco match-up.
With their triumph over Bayern, Liverpool wrote another chapter in the history of this one-match contest to become the first UK side to emerge victorious as UEFA Cup holders.
The Reds claimed a hat-trick of Super Cup wins in 2005 when, as Champions League winners, they beat CSKA Moscow 3-1 in Monaco.
Liverpool had moved into the decider after the most dramatic final in European Cup history ever when they beat Milan on penalties after a 3-3 draw, having gone 0-3 behind in the opening half.