Aston Villa’s presence in the latter rounds of European football’s premier tournament is reminiscent of the club’s illustrious past from the early ’80s.
The pivotal goal from Peter Withe against Bayern Munich secured the Villans their only European Cup title back in 1982. Now, under the astute leadership of Unai Emery, the club finds itself only a few matches away from repeating that remarkable achievement.
Bayern Munich, along with Italian powerhouses Juventus, can attest to the challenges Villa has posed in the 2024/25 Champions League. Thus, if Paris Saint-Germain think they can stroll into a semi-final against either Barcelona or Borussia Dortmund, they may be in for a rude awakening.
This will mark the first clash between PSG and Aston Villa in European competitions, and only the second instance in the past eight years where a French side faces an English club in the Champions League quarter-finals (the previous encounter being Manchester City’s loss to Lyon in 2019/20).
Luis Enrique not underestimating Aston Villa
While some might view PSG as overwhelming favourites—especially in light of their previous scare where they eliminated Liverpool, combined with Villa’s winless record against French teams away from home (P5 D2 L3)—Luis Enrique isn’t taking anything for granted.
The victory over Liverpool marked PSG’s first win against English teams in four knockout attempts, having previously faced defeats against Manchester City (2015/16), Manchester United (2018/19), and again against City (2020/21).
Enrique acknowledges the unpredictability of football, stating in his pre-match press conference, “Against Liverpool (in the last 16), the bookmakers labelled us as the underdogs, yet favourites don’t exist in football. All eight teams in the quarter-finals are here because they deserve to be. We must perform as required, and then we can justly claim victory on the pitch.”
From Villa’s side, Marco Asensio, a three-time Champions League winner with Real Madrid currently on loan at Villa Park from PSG, will return to his former home ground eager to make a statement.
With eight goals across all competitions since moving to the Midlands, Asensio ranks fourth on Villa’s scoring chart this season, following Jhon Duran (now at Al Nassr), Morgan Rogers, and Ollie Watkins.
His time with Villa has been remarkable, with three goals in two Champions League matches, coming off the bench, especially following a drought of ten games without scoring for his previous club in the same competition.
If he finds the net in this fixture, it would mark his most prolific Champions League campaign yet.
Fellow loanee Marcus Rashford is also hitting his stride, with the duo potentially posing a significant threat to the home side.
Rashford has been instrumental in his earlier visits to the Parc des Princes while at Manchester United, so making a strong impression on Wednesday would be a personal hat-trick of sorts.
Emery has another opportunity to gain an edge over Enrique, who has been somewhat of a thorn in his side; with the Spaniard having only managed to secure two wins from ten matches against the PSG boss (D1 L7), both victories occurring on home soil.
Their last encounter dates back to the 2016/17 season when Barcelona rallied from a 0-4 first-leg deficit against PSG— a first in the competition’s history—to eliminate Emery’s side with an astounding 6-1 second-leg victory.
On a more positive note for the Parisians, many of their players are currently in fine form, especially after securing the Ligue 1 title over the weekend.
One standout is Ousmane Dembélé, who has scored seven goals in his last six Champions League fixtures—this surpasses his tally of six goals across his preceding 36 appearances in the tournament. Notably, six of those seven strikes were registered in away matches.
Midfield set to be the crucial battleground at Parc des Princes
The midfield battle looks set to be the determining factor of the match.
Aston Villa boasts seven players who have reclaimed possession over 100 times in all competitions this season, including midfielders John McGinn, Youri Tielemans, and Morgan Rogers. This indicates a strategy aimed at applying relentless pressure on their opponents throughout the match.
This approach may indeed pave their path to victory; if PSG fails to establish their rhythm, they could find themselves struggling offensively.
Particular attention should be paid to Vitinha, who has achieved a remarkable 93% passing completion rate under pressure in this season’s competition (544/586)—the best of any midfielder with over 100 attempted passes.
He also leads all players for line-breaking passes in the knockout stages of the tournament (77).
With both teams typically looking to dictate play, a thrilling Champions League encounter is anticipated across the entire 90 minutes.
Aston Villa has notably created 52% of their Champions League chances this season from central areas, the highest proportion of any side. Conversely, Unai Emery’s squad has conceded the fewest overall chances from those areas (12).
PSG will aim to make the second leg of this tie a mere formality; after all, Villa has only conceded two goals in their five home games during this campaign, both of which occurred in a 4-2 victory over Celtic.
Bayern Munich (1-0), Bologna (2-0), Juventus (0-0), and Club Brugge (3-0) have all been kept scoreless by Villa, underlining the significant challenges the French champions could encounter at Villa Park should there still be a competition in the balance after the first leg.
Be sure to follow the first leg of PSG vs Aston Villa here.
Compiled by SportArena.com.au.
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