Unai Emery believes that the 3-1 Champions League defeat of Aston Villa opposite Paris Saint-German was the result that they had expected before the game, and will not give up the hope for a comeback of the second rows.
Villa traveled to the Parc des Princes as big outsiders, and although they briefly led against the run of playing by Morgan Rogers, PSG quickly bend their muscles.
Desire Doue's curly effort brought hosts on the 39th minute, after which Khvicha Kvaratskhelia went better with a nonchalant ball roll and a crash strike in the second half.
Villa defended deep in an attempt to limit PSG to 2-1, but the composed finish of Nuno Mendes gave the men of Luis Enrique the extra breathing space deep in the stopping time.
PSG had 29 shots for the Zeven van Villa, which marked the fifth time since the beginning of last season that they still had 20 shots than their opponents in a Champions League match, the joint from each side in that period, alongside Manchester City.
The hosts also recorded their highest passing accuracy in every Champions League match on Record (since 2003-04), with their 94.5% also the second highest by each team ever in the Knock-Rondes.
But Emery was not too discouraged by Villa who had admitted a late third, and said that the game went as expected and it says that his team will be more positive on home next Tuesday.
“It was more or less the expectation I had before the match 2 or 3-1,” the former PSG boss told TNT Sports.
“We will play at home next week, and it will be a huge challenge for us, but we will feel strong at home, with our supporters in Villa Park.
“Today we had to be disciplined in the defense and even when we lost 2-1, we had three approaches in their box.
“More or less we have our momentum good to be close to a result. The last goal we have admitted, we have to accept it. It doesn't change much – we have to win at home, with more than one goal.
“In the first half we had three or four chances to get into their box, but maybe only one chance to score. We had to be clinical, and we were in the first half, not in the second.
“We believe in our supporters, we believe in Villa Park and that the players can bring the best performance next week.”
Thank you for the support in Paris tonight, Villans – Safe Journey Home pic.twitter.com/lxb59iyrfi
– Aston Villa (@AVFCofficial) April 9, 2025
Goalscorer Rogers also refused to give up hope, and said that Villa has nothing to lose against a team that considered one of the favorites to win the tournament.
“We knew it would be difficult and knew how deadly they are. We didn't just want to come here and spectators,” he said. “It is clear that the score is not in our favor, but we still have a game and we will try to turn it around.
“We are here for a reason, we are not here to just compete. We want to keep fighting and we have the quality to compete with every team in the world.
“We have nothing to lose, nobody thought we would win the draw in the first place. Why not just go for it? We certainly have the quality to turn things around. It is not done yet.”
Before the second stage of this draw, Villa -Visit already relegated Southampton in the Premier League on Saturday.