Aston Villa 3-2 Paris Saint-Germain (4-5 AGG): Paris Saint-Germain looked out of sight against Aston Villa after half an hour, but kept clinging in the final phase
Aston Villa fought back firmly and dramatically against Paris Saint-Germain in their Champions League quarterfinals second stage to almost complete a comeback for the centuries. They finally let herself be doing too much, but Luis Enrique's side squeaking through a single goal
PSG was relentless during the break in the first half. They took a 3-1 lead in the second stage in Villa Park, with the late third goal of Nuno Mendes a painful blow to their opponents, and Mendes scored their second in Villa Park after an Achraf Hakimi-Opener.
However, your Tielemans bent effort gave them hope, and a Quickfire second half of John McGinn and Ezri Konsa brought them first in the night. Tielemans was centimeter away from leveling the draw at aggregated just before the hour, only for Gianluigi Donnarumma to get a stunning rescue.
Marco Asensio came from the bank and almost surprised his parent club, only for Donnarumma to come to the rescue again. Konsa then had a chance for his own 20 minutes of the time, but could not plant a header on goal if he was well placed to score.
With the competition stretched, both teams had opportunities to score the sixth goal of the night. In the end, however, the French champions prevail on the best margins.
Villa took the game to their opponents from the start, with Amadou Onana – one of the players brought the starting XI in – desperately close to the home from a corner home within the first three minutes. It was the visitors who first hit, although EMI Martinez did not claim a low cross and Hakimi picked up the pieces to dismiss home.
Just within half an hour of Mendes a quick break to curl into the bottom corner of Martinez's net. However, the hosts did not give up, and another deflection – this time on a McGinn shot – got the crowd going.
After Konsa made use of a dazzling Marcus Rashford Run, Donnarumma kept PSG in the front and stopped the momentum that dragged even further in favor of the hosts. However, it would not be, and PSG March in the semi -final.
1. PSG show their best and worst
Holders Real Madrid and 2020 winners Bayern Munich both run a serious risk of elimination on Wednesday. As both drop off, are the most recent champions that are left in the competition of this season 2015 winners Barcelona.
It is an open field, especially with the 2025 version of Barca Underwhelming in their second stage in Dortmund. All four semi-finalists, whoever they are, will feel that they have shown that they have the quality to get the job done.
PSG looks like they peaked at the right time, while their reach of attacking options is worried about every opponent. However, inexperience can count against them in the sharp end, and their nervy starts until the second half showed a weakness that opponents will feel that they can exploit.
2. Martinez's moment to forget
EMI Martinez tried to play mind games prior to the first stage and reminded PSG's French contingent of his role in Argentina's World Cup triumph over Les Bleus. However, it came back to bite him, with an early slip-up that his team left with a mountain to climb.
The Villa Keeper showed a good initiative when it came to sorting out his starting position for the cross of Bradley Barcola. From there, however, he was completely wrong, and seemed to have a breakdown in communication with Pau Torres before he spilled the ball at Hakimi's feet.
There was a bit of salvation too late when the South American Ousmane Dembele denied and then desired Doue, because both looked out to put away what a game-killing goal would have been. However, he can still wonder what could have been.
3. Emery's Redemption Mission Fal Short
Before the kick-off there was enough talk about an earlier Champions League meeting between Unai Emery and Luis Enrique. On that occasion, Emery was in charge of PSG while his fellow -spaniard was in the Dugout in Barcelona.
It was one of the most famous comebacks of the competition, with the French side at home won 4-0 but collapsed to a 6-1 second leg translation in Camp Nou. There was an argument that this week's meeting was more than just the result of the evening for both men.
A comeback of four goals in succession would have been an incredibly suitable way for Emery to take revenge. And he couldn't have gotten much closer.
4. Rashford justifies its start
The impact of Ollie Watkins from the bank against Southampton in the weekend some of them expected that he would start against PSG. Instead, Marcus Rashford continued to lead the line – with mixed results.
Things did not start brilliant for the on-Loan Manchester United star. He was deeply caught in half of the visitors to set up the movement that the opening goal produced, but returned for the second half as a changed man.
First was the instinctive effort from close by, which forced a sharp rescue from Donnarumma, and then the piece came the resistance. He made the defense of PSG foolish out of the right flank, before giving a perfect cutback for Konsa to find the net, and left the field 15 minutes of the time knowing that he had done as much as he could do.
5. Look at Royals treated to a classic
Prince William and Prince George were present for the first stage in Paris and there was some careful optimism. “I wear all my happiness clothing,” William TNT Sports said before he started at the Parc des Princes, but they did not have the desired effect.
For half an hour it seemed that they were more disappointed. PSG did not stop stopping when Mendes placed them 5-1 until aggregated, but the night was not over.
While the cameras cut in the stands during the second half of Villa, William seemed to cheer as hard as everyone else. The famous fans of the hosts would not end the night with a wonder win.
6. No time for Villa to rest on their laurels
Before the game started, Villa had two ways to qualify for next season's Champions League. A week from now on they could essentially have no.
The men of Emery are a point outside the top five with six more games to go. Their next two games, however, are against teams in the places above them – Newcastle at the weekend and Manchester City on Tuesday.
They have shown this term quality against stricter opponents, who keep Champions-Elect Liverpool in the competition and Bayern Munich in Europe are falling
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