Key events
David Hytner was at Villa Park this evening. Here’s his report. Thanks for reading this MBM.
PSG boss Luis Enrique speaks to Amazon. “You cannot forget that Villa have a lot of quality … intensity … the match was almost dead … we started the game in a great way … take advantage of spaces … the whole two matches we deserved to win … I think I have the best squad in the world … Villa did not have anything to lose … the atmosphere was great.”
Unai Emery talks to Amazon Prime. “Good evening … I am very proud of everythig we did … to get to this level is the next step forward … the first leg we competed well but it was not enough … the second leg we were better and we were close to coming back… I want to work hard for our next process for Aston Villa … the crowd was fantastic … the energy … there is still a little bit more to do … PSG were clinical … they have good fast players in the transition … today we were pushing more … now the most important thing is to get Europe again … the last six matches … try to get Champions League … if not, Europa or Conference.”
PSG captain Marquinhos speaks to Amazon Prime. “We knew it was going to be difficult … the tie is never won in the first leg … they scored those goals in the second half … we kept our intensity … the game was always going to be difficult … we knew we had to play our game … pressure … intensity … it wasn’t easy at times but we did what we needed to do and we are through to the next round … it’s such a difficult competition but we’re getting better and better … it’s going to be such a difficult semi-final whether it’s Arsenal or Real Madrid … but there’s belief we can go all the way.”
Post-match postbag. “I didn’t think they’d recover this tie but I also never thought they’d get this close. Heroic failure” – Phil Haran
“Six subs in the second half. Three minutes of extra time. If I were a Villa fan I’d be a little annoyed that the ref decided to add zero extra time at the end” – Michael Jenkins
“For a young team, PSG were doing a lot of ‘showing their experience’ at the end there. Should acknowledge that the ref fell for quite a lot of it too, mind you. But ultimately, Villa lost their composure: last 20 minutes or so it was all ‘just whack it forwards’. They’d scored three goals by passing it to each other, maybe just trust that maybe that will work one more time? Ultimately no disgrace, PSG were the better team (sometimes by far) for about 120 minutes of a 180-minute tie and so definitely deserve the victory. But what could have been, eh?” – Trevor Bond
“I’ll have the chants of the PSG away fans ringing in my ears all night, and I suspect so will most of the people who were in the stadium. What thunderous racket! What tremendous noise!” – Kári Tulinius
Ezri Konsa speaks to Amazon Prime. “Very proud of the boys … the two goals at the start killed us … we showed great heart to get back into the game … unfortunately it wasn’t enough … at half time we had nothing to lose … we wanted to prove a point … we dug deep … we had chances .. I think I scored the hardest one! … it is what it is … we thought we would get another one … I don’t think we could have done anything more … I missed the ball [for the later chance] … that happens in football … we showed tonight we can compete at the highest level and we want to do it again next season.”
♫ Hi-ho Aston Villa! ♪♬ All four sides of Villa Park celebrate. Mostly in the bittersweet fashion, of course, but the home fans give their brave team the love they deserve. Had they been on the end of a thumping tonight – and for a while during the first half that looked on the cards – it would have been the mother and father of all anti-climaxes. But they came so close to completing one of the great European comebacks with a second-half performance for the ages. A quick two-goal blast inspired by John McGinn, Marcus Rashford and Ezri Konsa. Gianluigi Donnarumma had some big saves to make. Konsa missed a glorious chance to level the aggregate score, and Ian Maatsen came close to forcing extra time with a precision volley at the end. But PSG were the better team in the three other halves of this two-legged tie, and deserve to progress. They could be Arsenal’s problem now. Or perhaps another puzzle for the reigning champions Real Madrid to solve. Either way, they’ll take some stopping.
FULL TIME: Aston Villa 3-2 Paris Saint-Germain (agg 4-5)
Villa are out. But what a second-half performance against the best team in Europe right now. They can hold their heads high.
90 min +3: Cash advances down the right. He pulls back a cross for Maatsen, who from the left-hand corner of the D, meets it sweetly. So sweetly. A curling volley that’s headed for the bottom right. It’s in all the way … but Pacho gets in the road to block brilliantly. What drama!
90 min +2: PSG hoick long. Goal kick. One last Hail Mary.
90 min +1: Martinez launches long, forcing Hakimi to head out for a throw. That’s flung into the mixer, but easily cleared by PSG, who then draw a cheap foul, and the clock ticks on.
90 min: Dembele eventually takes it, and PSG play keep-ball in the corner. On the touchline, Unai Emery’s temper reaches def con one. The visitors are managing the clock professionally, and there will only be three additional minutes.
89 min: PSG are getting a lot of joy down the right flank now. Doué tears free and enters the box, only to be denied by Martinez. The corner’s tugged back to Kvaratskhelia, whose shot is better this time, and deflected over for another corner. Dembele does not rush over to take it.
88 min: Villa’s last fling of the dice as Barkley comes on for Tielemans.
87 min: Hakimi romps down the right. The ball’s switched to the left for Kvaratskhelia, who tries to dance his way into a shooting position, but can’t get past the obdurate Cash. Fine last-ditch defending.
85 min: Donnarumma takes his sweet time over a goal kick. Europe’s most in-form team reduced to this. Villa have been marvellous in this second half.
84 min: Hakimi races down the right and nips past Maatsen, before aiming for the bottom right. The keeper turns round the post for a corner, which is eventually worked back to Kvaratskhelia, who slices rashly towards the top-right corner of the Holte End.
82 min: Doué tries to advance down the inside right. Tielemans hangs out a leg and the PSG player doesn’t need a second invitation. Free kick, just to the right of the D. Anxiety levels around Villa Park now through the roof. But Nuno Mendes blooters straight into the wall. Immediate panic over, though anxiety levels around Villa Park remain through the roof.
81 min: The PSG fans continue to make their presence felt. With the clock against them, Villa’s supporters are now understandably pensive. “As an Aston Villa fan I just want to say that whatever happens this evening, we can be proud of ourselves,” writes Dylan Kenny. “PSG are clearly the best side in Europe right now and would be worthy winners of the Champions League. But we’ve properly taken them on tonight. That’s all you can ask as a fan.”
79 min: Now it’s Rogers’ turn to aim for the top-left corner, cutting in from the right before turning one loose. High. Wide.
78 min: Dembele is sprung into space down the right. He’s got Doué free in the middle, but chooses to curl towards the top left instead. Wide. High. He doesn’t try to catch Doué’s eye. Meanwhile here’s Espen B: “Is it too late for Villa to bring Divock Origi on?”
77 min: Dembele has a whack from a tight angle on the left. Martinez refuses to be beaten at his near post. He turns the ball out for a corner, from which nothing comes.
76 min: Villa switch out Rashford and Digne with Watkins and Maatsen.
75 min: PSG take a little sting out of the game with some sterile midfield play. It doesn’t calm the crowd down, mind.
73 min: Kvaratskhelia still hasn’t contributed much. Doué has hardly featured since his introduction. Logically this is all good news for Villa. The more anxious may consider it an uncomfortably ominous state of affairs.
71 min: Asensio strides into the PSG box down the inside right. He couldn’t, could he? Not this time. He sidefoots straight at Donnarumma. Then a Villa free kick out on the right. Rashford teases it in. Konsa should score, six yards out, but doesn’t connect with his header, which flashes weakly wide left. This is gloriously daft.
69 min: To the great credit of the PSG fans, they’re still giving it everything, despite the current direction of travel. “McGinn’s splendid solo effort has injected confidence into the whole Villa team, most notably Rashford who is beginning to look like his old self,” quips Colum Fordham. “McGinnspiration! Who knows what might happen from here but there’s magic in the air at Villa Park.”
67 min: McGinn, his work here done, is replaced by Marco Asensio, a headline in the making given he’s on loan from PSG. Onana meanwhile makes way for Jacob Ramsey.
65 min: Villa Park is in Bedlam Mode, by the way. Like you need telling that. But one more PSG goal would surely burst the bubble, and Dembele tries to provide it by lashing a low drive goalwards from a tight angle on the right. Martinez gets down to handle convincingly.
63 min: Rashford hassles Vitinha in the middle of the park. The dynamic suddenly so different. Vitinha was the boss of the first half, with Rashford invisible. But now look! What an assist Rashford provided for Konsa’s goal, and now he’s really up for this.
62 min: PSG, their heads swimming, respond by replacing Barcola with Doué.
60 min: The corner’s pulled back. Tielemans shoots, a bouncing bomb into the box. Torres heads over. Very similar vibes to the early second-half one-two Liverpool performed on Barcelona in their 2019 semi-final 4-0 comeback. Similar timings to Georginio Wijnaldum’s double-whammy that evening as well.
59 min: This is absurd. Borderline psychedelic. Tielemans guides a looping header towards the top left. Donnarumma claws it out. It was heading in. McGinn tries to force the rebound home from a tight angle. It’s deflected out for a corner.
GOAL! Aston Villa 3-2 PSG (Konsa 58); agg 4-5
Rashford jinks in from the right. He reaches the byline, by the corner of the six-yard box, and pulls back for Konsa, rushing in. Konsa opens his body and slots into the bottom right! It’s on! It really is on!
57 min: Rashford, who has done very little so far this evening, drifts in from the left and launches a rising shot towards the top-right corner. Donnarumma extends and tips around the corner. And from that …
GOAL! Aston Villa 2-2 PSG (McGinn 55); agg 3-5
McGinn is allowed to run down the inside-left channel. And run. And run. He takes a whack at goal from 30 yards. A pearler rises and dips into the top-right corner, Donnarumma wrong-footed for the second time this evening. A slight nick, you see. They couldn’t, could they?!
53 min: Tielemans bustles into the PSG box but loses control. Neither Marquinhos nor Hakimi know where the ball is. It falls to Rashford, who can’t force past the spreading Donnarumma. PSG go up the pitch, and Dembele is sent clear from the halfway line. He’s clearly offside, the only outfield player in the Villa half, but is allowed to run all the way before delicately dinking over Martinez. Lovely finish, but it’s obviously going to be ruled out. And it is.
51 min: A bit of space for Cash down the right. He’s got a couple of pals in the middle, but hesitates to cross, defenders swarm, and the opportunity goes by.
49 min: Digne crosses from the left. McGinn flicks a header over the bar. Well off-target.
48 min: Other than that, a fairly quiet start to the half, even if Villa are buzzing around in the hope of forcing an early mistake.
46 min: McGinn chases after a long ball down the middle. Marquinhos stands his ground. The defender catches McGinn in the face with an accidental arm. McGinn goes down. He’s not happy. He claims to have been deliberately elbowed. The referee’s having none of it, but McGinn has been on a rolling boil ever since that tangle with Hakimi. Tony Hughes, of half-time postbag fame, could be onto something.
PSG get the second half started. No changes.
Half-time postbag. “Many years ago Jonathan Wilson made the point that in the post-sweeper era, the national side with the best fullbacks generally won the the World Cup. I know that this was a point about the international game, but no club has a better pair of fullbacks than Nuno Mendes and Achraf Hakimi, which bodes well for PSG” – Kári Tulinius
“Not exactly Nostradamus-level, but I reckon the second half has at least a red card in it somewhere” – Tony Hughes
“Even though it’s still a tall task, I was thrilled to see Villa get on back. Then they showed Prince William celebrating. Come on PSG, put in another five!” – Rob Coughlin
HALF TIME: Aston Villa 1-2 Paris Saint-Germain (agg 2-5)
PSG’s flying full-backs look to have done for Aston Villa’s hopes of reaching the semis. Youri Tielemans has restored at least a smidgen of hope.
45 min: Dembele goes racing clear down the left. One pass. This is too simple. He enters the box but flays a wild shot over the bar. Then the flag goes up for offside. Had he scored, I think VAR would have got involved, Konsa playing him on.
44 min: Hakimi creams a long free kick down the middle. Dembele is free! Fortunately for Villa, Konsa battles back and gets in the road, Dembele slips, and the flag finally goes up for offside.
42 min: McGinn thinks he’s going into a 50-50 with Kvaratskhelia. In reality it’s more like a 20-80. The Villa captain is way late, clatters his man, and goes into the book. A high possibility he’s not yet calmed down from the tangle with Hakimi.
41 min: Tielemans pops a pass down the inside-right channel for Torres, who from the corner of the six-yard box opts to cross rather than shoot. Wrong decision.
40 min: Vitinha, Dembele and Nuno Mendes nearly open Villa up again down the left. Then Fabián Ruiz one-twos with Kvaratskhelia in the middle but the resulting shot is weak and straight at Martinez. PSG seemingly not that concerned by the Villa goal.
38 min: Turns out Tielemans has been credited with the Villa goal. Everyone involved will be happy with that decision.
