Aston Villa take on Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final blockbuster this week.
After breezing past Club Brugge in the last 16, Unai Emery comes up against one of his former clubs in a much tougher task.
Villa are having a dream campaign and now face their toughest challengeGettyPSG knocked Liverpool out in the previous round, winning 1-0 at Anfield before overcoming the Premier League leaders on penalties.
It leaves the French giants, who were also crowned Ligue 1 champions over the weekend, riding a major high heading into this first leg.
So, for Villa, their trip to Paris represents a very difficult challenge, but they will also be confident while on a streak of seven straight wins in all competitions.
PSG vs Aston Villa: Bad memories
Emery doesn’t have the fondest memories of his time as PSG manager…
While manager of the French giants, the Spaniard was on the touchline for a record-breaking Champions League humiliation against Barcelona eight years ago.
His men were beaten 6-1 in the second leg of their last 16 tie, becoming the first team in history to give up a 4-0 advantage in the competition.
He spent two years at the club and despite signing Kylian Mbappe and Neymar when in charge, he was sacked the season following their arrival.
Speaking about his time at PSG, Emery admitted: “It was a difficult time, for the team to adapt to me and for me to adapt to the team.”
Fortunately, a few years down the line, his Villa side have more than adapted to his approach and they are having a season to remember.
To now go and knock out PSG would be the pinnacle of their achievements so far, but the key to that will be picking up a respectable first-leg result.
Emery is having a much better time at Villa than he did at PSGGetty Paris SG and Aston Villa will meet for the first time in European competition, with this just the second UEFA Champions League quarter-final between French and English sides in the last eight campaigns (Manchester City 1-3 Lyon in the only leg in 2019-20). Paris SG eliminated Liverpool in the last 16 of this season’s UEFA Champions League, after having exited the competition in each of their last three knockout stage meetings with English sides (v Man City in 2015-16 and 2020-21, and Man Utd in 2018-19). Aston Villa have never won away to a French opponent in European competition (P5 D2 L3); their most away to teams from one nation without winning. The last two have both been defeats under Unai Emery, losing at Lille in April 2024 (1-2) and at Monaco in January this year (0-1).PSG vs Aston Villa: Team news
PSG are going to have all of their key men available, with only Kang-in Lee set to miss out through an injury.
Ousmane Dembele, Bradley Barcola and Joao Neves were among stars rotated over the weekend, meaning they’ll be fresh for this game.
As for Villa, Emery also rotated his side for their Premier League win over Nottingham Forest on Saturday evening.
Ezri Konsa, Boubacar Kamara, John McGinn and Marcus Rashford didn’t start that game, but they’re likely to return to the team for the first leg.
Lucas Digne and Pau Torres may also be brought back into the team.
PSG loanee Marco Asensio is allowed to feature despite this game being against his parent club, so he could feature from the off.
Dembele is going to be PSG’s main threat in this tieGetty Ousmane Dembélé has netted seven goals in his last six UEFA Champions League games for Paris SG, one more than in his previous 36 appearances in the competition combined (6). Six of those seven goals have been scored in away matches, however. Marco Asensio has scored three goals in two UEFA Champions League appearances for Aston Villa (both as a substitute), after failing to score in 10 games for former club Paris SG in the competition. If he finds the net in this game, 2024-25 would be his best ever return in a single Champions League campaign (currently on three).PSG vs Aston Villa: What has been said?
Looking ahead to the two-legged tie against his former club, Villa boss Emery said: “We are motivated. We’re excited.
“They are favourites, but we are going to try to play those two matches, preparing as best as possible, competing, analysing how we have to adapt to them, how we can impose and dominate with our structure tactically.
“We are very motivated to prepare those matches.”
Morgan Rogers has also been speaking ahead of the game, saying: “We obviously understand that we’re against a colossal side in PSG and we know it’s going to be difficult.
“We know we’re going to have to suffer in the game. They’ve got world-class players all around the team. But at the same time, we’re there to win the tie at the end of the day.
“We’re in there for a reason. We’ve got to the quarter-final for the way we’ve played and how we’ve been in the competition.”
Aston Villa will be the fourth different English team that Paris SG have faced in the UEFA Champions League this season (also Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool). This is the joint-most opponents from one nation that a team have played against in a single European Cup/Champions League campaign, along with Leeds United in 2000-01 (four Spanish sides) and Real Madrid in 2023-24 (four German sides). Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has won just two of his 10 games against Luis Enrique as a manager (D1 L7), with both wins coming in home fixtures. Indeed, this will be the first time they’ve faced each other since the 2016-17 campaign, when Luis Enrique’s Barcelona came from 0-4 down in the first leg to eliminate Emery’s Paris SG side in the UEFA Champions League last 16 (6-1 win in the second leg).PSG vs Aston Villa: talkSPORT coverage
This Champions League quarter-final first leg will take place on Wednesday, April 9.
Kick-off at the Parc des Princes is scheduled for 8pm.
talkSPORT will have live coverage of all the action from Paris.
Adrian Durham will be your host while commentary will be coming from Jim Proudfoot and former Aston Villa captain Andy Townsend.
To tune in to talkSPORT or talkSPORT 2 through the website, click HERE for the live stream.
You can also listen via the talkSPORT app, on DAB digital radio, through your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.
The game will also be broadcast live on TNT Sports.
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