Villa fall to first leg defeat in Paris
PSG 3 - 1 Aston Villa
Paris Saint-Germain overturned a first-half deficit with three exceptional goals to see off Aston Villa in an entertaining first leg at the Parc des Princes.
Morgan Rogers gave the visitors a surprise lead, but second-half finishes from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Nuno Mendes, along with a first-half equaliser from Désiré Doué, gave the Ligue 1 champions a deserved victory.
A closer look at what happened in Paris
Having wrapped up the French title at the weekend, PSG looked sharp from the off. Ousmane Dembélé returned to the starting line-up and quickly tested Emiliano Martínez with a powerful early effort. Villa, to their credit, weathered the early storm and nearly fell behind when Vitinha curled narrowly over from the edge of the area.
Then came the opener, and it was the Premier League side who struck first with a goal very much against the run of play. John McGinn won the ball deep in his own half and sparked a flowing move down the left, Marcus Rashford feeding Youri Tielemans on the overlap. The Belgian's low cross dissected the PSG back line, allowing Rogers to arrive unmarked and finish confidently.
Any fears of a repeat of PSG’s limp display against Liverpool in the previous round were soon allayed. Less than five minutes later, they were level. Doué saw a speculative effort almost creep in via the post, forcing Martínez into a scrambling save.
From the resulting corner, the ball was worked cleverly across the box to the teenager on the left-hand edge. This time, he took a touch and whipped a glorious curling shot into the top corner to bring the hosts back on terms.
PSG were dominant for long spells and continued to press after the break. Their second goal came just three minutes into the second half and was every bit as eye-catching. Fabián Ruiz launched a counterattack from deep, finding Kvaratskhelia with space to run into on the left. The Georgian skipped past Axel Disasi with a clever feint before unleashing a fierce strike into the roof of the net.
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Both sides had further chances. Achraf Hakimi forced a sharp save from Martínez while Rogers, looking lively throughout, nearly added a second for Villa, only to be denied by Gianluigi Donnarumma.
As the match drifted towards full time, Paris added a third. Patient build-up play inside Villa’s half suddenly opened up when Dembélé threaded a precise pass into the feet of Nuno Mendes. The full-back showed impressive composure to cut inside, draw both Martínez and Ezri Konsa, and clip the ball into the empty net to seal a deserved victory for Luis Enrique’s side.
Unai Emery’s Villa will return to Birmingham needing to overturn a two-goal deficit, knowing they were undone by three moments of real quality.
