Aston Villa Football Club never seems to amaze me. I woke up this morning with an enormous feeling of pride. Unai Emery and his side gave one of the European elite an almighty fright in Birmingham last night. So much so that their manager, Luis Enrique, commented on our performance, much the same as Pep Guardiola when we outplayed Manchester City last season.
“I don’t think my team has been so dominated by another team in that way, but this opponent has to take risks because they were going out of the competition. They attacked with great intensity & we were playing in front of a great crowd too,” stated the Spaniard.
Following the defeat in Paris last week, it was always going to be a big ask to turn the tie around. The third and final goal in that game was the killer. That didn’t stop Aston Villa from convincing us that it was still possible. Call it blind faith if you please, but I am sure most believed it was possible as they went through the turnstiles last night.
Aston Villa 3-2 PSG (Agg: 4-5)
Villa started quickly out of the traps, and the faithful were fully behind them, creating quite a hostile atmosphere inside Villa Park. Villa pressed when the visitors had the ball, but they knew PSG would always be a threat on the counter-attack, and they did just that after 11 minutes.
Nuno Mendes played Bradley Barcola down the wing, his cross was parried by Emi Martinez into the path of Achraf Hakimi who was able to give the visitors the lead on the night.
Emery’s side were two behind just before the half-hour mark when Mendes was able to finish another slick counter-attack as it all seemed to be going wrong for the home side.
They managed to pull one back with a nice move between Youri Tielemans, John McGinn and Marcus Rashford, with Tielemans’ shot taking a deflection to make it 1-2 on the night and three behind on aggerate.
Many, including me, feared the worst at half time, but how wrong could I be?
The home side was a different beast in the second half. PSG had no idea what had hit them.
First, John McGinn picked the ball up inside his half, powered up the pitch before unleashing an effort from outside the box. A slight deflection ensured Villa were level on the night.
Moments later, the unthinkable happened, Villa turned the tie on its head and were ahead on the night. Rashford picked up a loose ball following a corner, ran into the box before squaring to Ezri Konsa who made it 3-2.
Villa continued to threaten the PSG goal, as the visitors looked rattled. Sergio Asensio, on loan from PSG, came close but was denied by Gianluigi Donnarumma, while Ian Maatsen’s effort in stoppage time was blocked as the visitors limped into the next round of the Champions League.
Heartbroken, but with an immense feeling of pride. The players were all applauded off the pitch.
What a ride it has been. Thank you, Unai and Aston Villa, for allowing us to dream.
