Luis Enrique believes that PSG deserved to win Aston Villa in the second leg band of the quarterfinals of the Champions League, despite the fact that Villa was a tense finish for the Parisians.
PSG took the second stage in Villa Park with a 3-1 lead over total, and the visitors grabbed further where they had left last week, with Achraf Hakimi who plundered forward to the open.
The draw looked almost sealed when Nuno Mendes doubled the benefit of PSG, although you teased Tielemans a comeback with a goal just past half an hour.
A tense second half followed, with the long -distance strike by John McGinn Villas Hoop. Two minutes later, Marcus Rashford founded Briljant Ezri Konsa to put the hosts at night and within the moving distance.
But it was not in front of Unai Emery, while PSG was holding to sneak through, although it was hardly a comfortable night for the Parisians.
After the game with Amazon Prime, Luis Enrique quickly spoke his side, as well as Aston Villa for their strong performance, although he claimed that PSG deserved to continue to the semi -final.
“We started the game in a great way and scored two great goals, try to take advantage of the spaces,” he said.
“We can't forget, this is the Champions League and the other team has a lot of quality. And Aston Villa played with a lot of intensity.
“But of the entire two games we deserved to win.
“I am very happy because I can offer our supporters a different qualification in the semi -final.”
Villa was by far the better side in Tuesday's second stage and pushed PSG's defense to allow nine shots on goal- most they admitted this season in a single match in the Champions League.
Luis Enrique quickly praised his team for their defensive resilience and an impressively growing record in this competition.
“The second year in a row in the [Champions League] Semi -final and now we want to enter the next phase, “the Spaniard added.
“I think the best team in the world has, not just the best keeper.
“If you are in a club like PSG, you have many quality players. That is football and that is competition.”
When he was asked if he was nervous that his side was 2-0, the former Barcelona Treble-winning manager offered a measured response.
“At that time they had nothing to lose because they lost the first match and lost during the half time in the first half [of the second leg]. “
He added that the fans in Villa Park made the night memorable: “The atmosphere in the stadium was also very nice.”
A fantastic game over the two legs.
Good luck @AVFCofficial for the rest of the season and for another Champions League qualification pic.twitter.com/taexstqflc
-Paris Saint-Germain (@pg_englait) April 15, 2025
PSG captain Marquinhos repeated his manager's feelings about wanting to penetrate the following phases of the competition.
“We knew it would be a difficult game. We had faith, we kept our intensity and we believed to the end that we would continue,” said the Brazilian.
“It's such a difficult competition, but we get better and better and we prove that we are a good team.
“There is belief that we can go completely and win it this year,” he concluded.
PSG is advanced from each of their last four quarter-final tires in the Champions League and reached the last four for the fifth time in the Algemeen-Nadat they also did it in 1994-95, 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2023-24.
This is the fourth time in the last six seasons that the Parisians will appear in the semi -final.
They will be confronted with one of Real Madrid or Arsenal, who protruded their quarter -final second stage on Wednesday in the Santiago Bernabeu.
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