Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has outlined how proud of his team was after their performance against Paris Saint-Germain, but insisted that his team deserved to play in the Champions League again.
Villa entered the fixture and was confronted with a 3-1 deficit at total after the defeat in the Parc des Princes last week, before he gave two early goals to Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes in the opening 30 minutes of the second stage in Villa Park.
The deflected effort of your Tielemans withdrew one for the break, with captain John McGinn and Ezri Konsa who, within the room of two minutes after the restart, hit a seductive finish with the score Finaled at 5-4 in the draw.
Villa had opportunities to draw level by Marco Asensio, playing against his parent club and Konsa but eventually fell short before they bowed out of the competition with their heads High.
“I am very proud of everything we did,” Emery told Amazon Prime.
“To reach this level is the best step forward to get where I want to be with Aston Villa.
“We participated well in the first stage, but not enough. We were even better today and almost to come back. The last step forward is still [missing]And this is the only one [aspect] I do [work on] For our process. “
Villa has now confronted with a short change for another crucial collision, while they are organizing colleague Champions League Chasers Newcastle, live on Sky Sports this Saturday. The Magpies are currently in fourth place, two points ahead of Villa in the seventh, with a competition in hand.
Emery continued in his press conference: “The players showed capacity. We defeated Bayern Munich and we won tonight, the players showed their capacity at this level, they are here because they earn it to be here and to be confronted with competitions like today.
“I want to add a club with the same challenges as I – more quality players when we need it – so proud of these players, convinced that we will get our goals until the last game we will come across.”
McGinn: We have taken a long way
The Villa captain started the revival of the second half after deep in the PSG half and shot in the upper corner. He insists that, despite leaving the competition, the team can be proud of their efforts and the journey they have been.
McGinn signed in 2018 for Villa from Hibernian and played an important role in their rise of the second level of English football to competing with Europe's elite.
“Clear disappointment, but I am proud of my teammates, proud of the club,” he told Amazon Prime. “We have taken a long way. We were like that, so close tonight. We just fell a bit short.
“We had opportunities to bring the game to extra time, but we have to be proud of the way we returned to one of the best teams in the world to fight to the end.
“We want more. We want to be back here next season and we will do our best to do that.”
When he was asked what Emery said during the break, when his side still stared over the barrel of a 5-2 shortage of aggregated, McGinn added: “He said:” I am proud of the performance, keep going, you just never know. “
“We never gave up. It was chaos, but we have given absolutely everything and I think every Aston Villa supporter will leave with a huge sense of pride.”
Konsa: We'll be back!
Konsa echoed the claims of his manager and captain, while he also refers to the chance he missed when Marcus Rashford's Cross flashed over the face of the goal, but the defender did not succeed in making the necessary connection from the point of a point.
“I am proud of the boys,” said Konsa. “The two goals at the beginning killed us, but we showed a lot of faith and character to get back in. We won the second stage, but it wasn't enough.
“During the break we thought we had nothing to lose. We wanted to go outside and prove a point. We had opportunities, I think I scored the most difficult. I don't think we could have done it even more. I missed the ball [for the headed chance]It happens.
“Donnarumma has made a number of excellent saves. We have shown that we can compete at the highest level tonight and we want to do it again next season.”
Enrique: PSG have not been dominated in this way before
PSG Baas Luis Enrique recognized the vibrant performance of Villa and even claimed that he had not seen a team “dominate” that way before traveling to the West Midlands.
“I don't think this team was dominated by a team in this way, but the opponent had to take risks because they went out of the competition.
“They attacked with real intensity and also for a large crowd. We will improve this experience.
“I was not happy at the end of the first half. We played at a level that did not fit the Champions League. Then we really had suffering in the second half and had opportunities to be right.”
Comments