Aston Villa came from two goals down to beat Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) 3-2 in their UEFA Champions League quarter final second leg, but the French side – with Gianluigi Donnarumma producing three or four world-class saves – just about held on to progress 5-4 on aggregate. Unai Emery, the Villa manager who had guided PSG between 2016 and 2018, was on his knees a couple of times towards the end, as his team came agonisingly close to forcing extra time after a second-half performance for the ages.
It had been over 40 years since Villa Park hosted a European Cup/Champions League quarter final, and the early optimism in the Holte End was quickly punctured by the PSG full-backs. Nuno Mendes released Bradley Barcola down the left and his cross was pushed into Achraf Hakimi’s path by Emiliano Martinez.
In the 27th minute, Mendes finished off a delightful flowing move with a superb left-footed strike that went in off the post. With the aggregate score 5-1, that should have been that. But someone forgot to tell Villa or the fans who may not see their team scaling such lofty heights again soon.
A speculative strike from Youri Tielemans deflected in off William Pacho to give Villa a lifeline before half-time. After the interval, two goals in three minutes threatened to take the roof off the famous old stadium. First, the brilliant John McGinn carried the ball almost the length of the pitch before unleashing a thunderbolt that again hit Pacho before finding the back of the net.
PSG managed to see the game out.
Then, after Donnarumma had made a magnificent diving save to deny Marcus Rashford, his trickery down the right side of the penalty area set up Ezri Konza, Villa’s centre-back for a calm finish at the near post.
The clock showed 57 minutes then, and PSG were rocking, but to Luis Enrique’s credit, he and his side managed to see the game out. Ousmane Dembele was a threat on the counter, forcing Martinez into smart saves, but Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was unusually subdued, and it was Villa who had the better chances to take the game into extra time.
Donnarumma, whose telescopic reach had denied Liverpool in a penalty shootout in the previous road, saved superbly from Tielemans and Marco Asensio – the on-loan attacking midfielder playing against his parent club – as Villa pushed right to the end. It was so nearly enough.
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