Pau Torres is back and he'll have his hands full, whether Lukaku plays for Chelsea or not

Villarreal will face a tough test in Wednesday night's UEFA Super Cup final against Chelsea in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Having already slain an English giant in Manchester United in May's Europa League final to get themselves to the European season's traditional curtain raiser, the LaLiga Santander side will back themselves to spring another surprise as underdogs.

A boost for the Spaniards

Pau Torres' participation at the Olympic Games this summer meant that he was always unlikely to take part in Wednesday's game, but the defender is already back to work in Spain.

In 2020/21, the Olympian played 44 times for Villarreal, including in their Europa League final. From there Pau immediately joined up with Luis Enrique's Spain squad for Euro 2020 and then headed on to the Olympics. Wasting no time upon his return to Spain, the 24-year-old is already back in training with his club teammates.

Having fallen at the semi-final stage of Euro 2020 and lost out in the final in Tokyo, Pau will be determined to go one step further in Northern Ireland and bring home yet more silverware to Castellon.

With or without Lukaku, Pau's hands will be full

But he's not likely to have it easy against the Premier League side, whether or not Romelu Lukaku signs in time to make an appearance. The Belgian is on his way to London to complete his transfer from Inter, and he'll be able to play as long as Chelsea can add him to their matchday squad before midnight CEST on Tuesday.

Even without Lukaku, though, Chelsea have plenty of firepower in attack to worry the Spaniards. Hakim Ziyech impressed recently against Tottenham, as did Kai Havertz against Arsenal, and both will be desperate to kick on in their second season with the London club.