Aston Villa will look to write themselves into Champions League history by overturning a 3-1 deficit when they welcome Paris Saint-Germain to Villa Park on Tuesday.
It’s not quite an inconquerable mountain that stands in front of the Villa, but it is PSG. And PSG are suddenly bloody brilliant at football.
Desire Doue and Kvarat Kvaratskhelia, who is undoubtedly the most googled football name by journalists worldwide, showed their class at Parc Des Princes.
Individual moments of brilliance took the game away from Villa on either side of halftime before the marauding Nuno Mendes delivered the killer blow in added time.
The positive for Villa is that all is not as bad as it seems. Emi Martinez fielded more shots than a heavyweight title fight, but there was an absence of notably big chances.
The Argentinian superpatriot also ruffled a few feathers by donning a patriotic cap in a bid to p*ss off an entire nation, a trend popularised by a bright orange man in a bright red hat.
That’s not to say there wasn’t a clear gulf in class as the right team won, but it did demonstrate that Villa might have enough resolve to make a fist of this on home soil.
Unai Emery’s side had the perfect preparation as they enjoyed a weekend off against Southampton.
Marco Asensio even had the luxury of channelling Jermaine Defoe and all the other terrible Premier League penalty-takers you can think of, writing himself into the record books by missing two penalties in one match.
It was a nice moment for Aaron Ramsdale, who has spent eight months wishing he’d have focused more when he was at Arsenal.
Aston Villa vs Paris Saint-Germain prediction:
Like Martinez, we’re going to be absolute nationalists and back Aston Villa to win because the Premier League is the best in the world. Also, if anyone is going to throw away a handy margin in Europe, it’s PSG.
The real reason is that we’ve seen them beat Bayern Munich 1-0 at Villa Park, who are arguably a much more accomplished team than the Parisians.
The difficulty will be guarding against the blistering counterattacks and striking the right balance between attack and defence.
Other examples of Emery’s side doing exactly that include 1-0 wins against Arsenal and Man City in the space of a week last season.
We’ve seen a more attack-minded version of Villa this season, which in part may be down to a drop-off in defensive performances.
The Villans are unbeaten in 17 on home soil, yet they’ve allowed 13 teams to score at least once, with four scoring on two occasions.
It’s hard to imagine this game being won to nil because the French side has far too much quality not to threaten the goal, and it’s likely to open up in the latter stages.
We’ll stick with our gut and back the hosts, but we’ll take advantage of the goal threat both teams provide to find a winner in the goals market.
Aston Villa team news
Leon Bailey is the only confirmed absentee for Emery’s side on Tuesday.
Emi Martinez will be protected by Matty Cash, Ezri Konsa, Pau Torres and Lucas Digne.
Boubacar Kamara and Youri Tielemans should retain their place in the midfield, with Scot John McGinn just ahead of them.
Marcus Rashford could return to the left wing at the expense of Jacob Ramsey, meaning Ollie Watkins returns to the starting XI alongside Morgan Rogers.
Aston Villa expected line-up
Martinez – Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne – Kamara, Tielemans – Rogers, McGinn, Rashford – Watkins
PSG team news
PSG’s players enjoyed a nice rest at the weekend. No, they didn’t play Ligue 1’s version of Southampton; they just didn’t have a match.
Luis Enrique has the luxury of naming an unchanged team if he so wishes, though Brazilian defender Marquinhos should replace Beraldo after serving a suspension.
The metronome that is Vitinha will start again alongside Fabian Ruiz in midfield.
The attacking trio of Doue, Kvaratskhelia and Ousmane Dembele will look to terrorise the Villa defence once again.
PSG expected line-up
Donnarumma – Hakimi, Marquinhos, Pacho, Mendes – Ruiz, Vitinha, Neves – Doue, Dembele, Kvaratskhelia
Aston Villa vs PSG: How to watch and listen
Aston Villa vs PSG will be shown live on Amazon Prime Video at 20:00 on Tuesday, April 15. Radio commentary will be provided by BBC Radio 5 Live Sport.
Aston Villa vs PSG stats:
– This will be the second meeting between the clubs. Villa have won one and lost three of their previous meetings with French sides.
– Villa are unbeaten in 17 matches across all competitions at Villa Park.
– Villa are unbeaten in five Champions League matches at home, including a 1-0 win against Bayern Munich.
– PSG have a rich history of bottling it. They blew a 2-0 lead vs Chelsea in 2014/15, a 4-0 lead vs Barcelona in 2016/17, and a 3-1 lead vs Man United just last season.
– If PSG crash out again on Tuesday, they’ll have been eliminated despite leading by two or more goals on more occasions than any other team in European history.
– PSG have won just four of 17 away games against English opposition in European competitions.
