Ladies and gentlemen, the Champions League delivered once again. Although we didn’t get the full package – a complete Aston Villa comeback over PSG, we got more than enough to stay on the edge of our seats.
Coming into this second leg UCL quarter-final match, PSG would have thought it was all set and done. For much of the first half, it looked like that. PSG, although faced with a few attacks from Villa, were very solid and in a matter of minutes, they were two goals up on the night. Two successive counterattacks saw Hakimi and Mendes put the ball in the back of the net.
PSG were winning 5-1 on aggregate and were in cruise control. Villa were flattened by the dominance of PSG, and their fans were sealed at the mouth. They had just seen their team concede two brilliantly worked goals, and their chances of a comeback evaporated.
But little did they know that the UCL magic was about to take place.
Against the run of play, Tielemans sets PSG on a counter. After releasing the ball to Rashford, who finds John McGinn, Tielemans receives a reverse pass and rifles it into the back of the net. The shot takes a heavy deflection off Pacho to beat Donnorumma, but Villa fans celebrate the goal with a huge roar. Is this a sign of the impossible?
The second half takes place, and Villa Park is bouncing. There’s the belief that they can do it, and boy, did they almost do it. From absolutely nothing, McGinn carves out a cracker of a goal. The Aston Villa midfielder was running solo with no one to pass to, and he decided to have a shot at goal. Just like a rocket taking off the space, the shot left the ground and found the back of the net with impressive speed. Nobody saw that coming, not even Donnorumma, who watched the ball go all the way into the net.
The energy in Villa Park was pulsating at this point. Everybody was cheering, screaming, my oh my.
The fans had barely digested what they were seeing before Rashford took his time to teach the PSG defense some dancing lessons. He danced around two PSG players before cutting the ball back to Ezri Konsa and like a hot knife through butter, Konsa sliced the ball into the bottom corner. Donnorumma couldn’t react in time and Villa had a lead on the night.
The Prince of Wales who is an astute Aston Villa fan enjoyed every bit of it. Villa were unbelievably ahead on the night. 3-2 with 20 minutes to spare.
On aggregate, it was 4-5 and Villa just needed one more goal. For 20 minutes in a buzzing arena, Aston Villa played their hearts out looking for one more goal to take the tie to extra time. Konsa and Asensio both missed big chances and Donnorumma denied Villa on two occasions.
Slowly, the energy began to wither as it looked more certain that PSG were going to survive this one.
At the sound of the referee’s whistle, all hope was now gone. What started as a dominant display from the Parisians quickly turned into a Villa party but at the end, PSG had the final say. The French side survived a scary night in Birmingham and are through to the semi finals of the UEFA Champions League.
