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Unai Emery will always shudder at mention of La Remontada. It came to define his time as the manager of Paris Saint-Germain, the inexplicable Champions League defeat by Luis Enrique’s Barcelona in 2017 after his team had held a 4-0 first-leg lead. Barcelona would end up needing three goals with 88 minutes of the second leg gone at the Camp Nou. They got them for a 6-5 aggregate victory.
On an epic night at Villa Park, the roles were reversed – and so nearly to cathartic effect for Emery. His Villa team were magnificent. They refused to believe that this showpiece Champions League quarter-final was over after Luis Enrique’s PSG surged into a 2-0 lead on the night for a 5-1 aggregate advantage, the goals coming from their flying full-backs, Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes.
Villa needed four to force extra time. No away goals any more, of course. And when Youri Tielemans got the first on 34 minutes, it was just the start.
It was a second half that will live long in the memory of everybody present, Villa’s showing cut and thrust to go with their conviction, John McGinn and Ezri Konsa on the scoresheet before the 60 minute mark. They were far from isolated thrusts. PSG have been painted as the best team in Europe in recent months. They were shadows in the second half, Villa producing a performance for the ages.
They had the chances to equalise, golden ones. What a story it would have been if Marco Asensio, on as a substitute to face his parent club, had not been denied by Gianluigi Donnarumma in a one-on-one. Or Konsa had not blown a header from a whipped free-kick from the outstanding Marcus Rashford. At the very end, another substitute Ian Maatsen saw a goalbound shot blocked by Willian Pacho. It looked as though Donnarumma was beaten. PSG celebrated that like a goal of their own. They had survived. Just.
Emery’s one change from the first leg had hinted at pragmatism – Amadou Onana in, Jacob Ramsey out – but it was optimism that ran riot in the home crowd at kick-off time, Prince William among the believers in the stands. Hi Ho Aston Villa was an assault on the eardrums, although it was incongruous to hear the music selector play the Europa League theme tune over the PA system. The atmosphere pulsed, the PSG fans more than playing their part.
Hakimi helped to settle PSG because Villa did bring the storm at the outset, Morgan Rogers catching the eye with a couple of swashbuckling runs. Villa pushed through Marcus Rashford but when he was dispossessed by Marquinhos, PSG moved the ball from their right to the left and then up to Bradley Barcola with clinical precision.
It was certainly a show of strength from Luis Enrique when he started Barcola ahead of Désiré Doué, one of the stars of the first leg. But as everybody knows, Barcola has tremendous quality and speed. His low cross was behind Pau Torres, who moved towards the ball and then left it for Emiliano Martínez, who had to have seen the ball late and could only push out towards Hakimi. It was on a plate for him.
PSG’s second also spoke to Luis Enrique’s spirit of adventure because once again it was a full-back applying the final brushstrokes to a counterattacking masterpiece. PSG won the ball inside their own area and it was a blur of blue as they moved decisively upfield, Hakimi was prominent before Ousmane Dembélé went square to Mendes. The finish was lovely; a dart away from Matty Cash and a curler that kissed the post on its way in.
Villa had flickered at 1-0. Torres blasted too close to Gianluigi Donnarumma while Rogers took a pass from Tielemans and curled just wide. They deserved the Tielemans goal which was teed up by a reverse pass by McGinn after an excellent move involving Rashford. Tielemans’s shot flicked home off Pacho.
It was feisty and there was uproar when McGinn went down in the area after a shoulder-to-shoulder challenge from Hakimi on 36 minutes. Hard but fair, said the referee José Maria Sánchez. No penalty. Hakimi kicked up and out at McGinn as the pair tangled on the ground and he was very lucky not to make any contact.
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PSG might have had another before the interval only for Fabián Ruiz to scuff his shot slightly when well placed.
Emery’s transformation of Villa has been remarkable, very much of a piece with the magic he has sprinkled at his previous clubs, especially in Europe.
This was the 14th season in 17 that he had competed in the knockout rounds of one Uefa competition or another.
He needed the mother and father of all comebacks as the second half started and yet there was no diluting Villa’s belief. They continued to bring the intensity, to play their football. The crowd stayed with them, how they stayed with them and by the hour mark, Villa were back in it. PSG squinted into the whirlwind.
Rashford exploded to life. He had extended Donnarumma in the 51st minute as PSG panicked at the back and his cut-back for Konsa’s low shot for 3-2 on the night followed a nutmeg on Ruiz and a swerve away from Vitinha. Moments earlier, he had extended Donnarumma after a burst inside.
That had followed McGinn lighting the touchpaper with a run and shot from distance that looped over Donnarumma. Straight after the Konsa goal, Tielemans almost scored with a header, Donnarumma clawing over. Then Torres could not react in time to direct a header of his own. It was bedlam inside the stadium.
