Aston Villa 3 PSG 2 (agg 4-5): Unai Emery’s side fall agonisingly short after epic second-half turnaround
DEFEAT has rarely been so glorious, elimination rarely soundtracked with such fervour and miracles rarely so tantalisingly close.
Aston Villa’s great European adventure is over, but it ended in appropriate fashion with a ferocious fightback and a cacophony of Brummie noise.
With 34 minutes of this second leg played, Unai Emery’s men were 5-1 down on aggregate and staring down the barrel at a thorough gubbing.
Yet after 57 minutes, following goals from Youri Tielemans, John McGinn and Ezri Konsa, they were ahead on the night, just one goal adrift overall and reaching for the heavens.
That Luis Enrique’s men should have clung on to book a semi-final date against Arsenal or Real Madrid said much for their prospects of winning a first Champions League title in Munich next month.
Because they will rarely encounter an atmosphere as hostile or an opponent as ravenously hungry as Villa.
When Emery was in charge of PSG in 2017, he saw his side surrender a 4-0 first-leg lead to be knocked out by Enrique’s Barcelona and for a while during the white heat of a hectic second half, it looked for all the world as though the Villa boss would exact an extraordinary revenge.
Villa had started the night by playing the wrong music – the Europa League theme instead of the Champions League anthem.
And when PSG’s full-backs Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes fired them into a four-goal aggregate victory, that looked a taste of things to come.
But Villa are only a point outside the top-five qualification places for next season’s Champions League and after this thrilling run to the last eight, they would be very welcome back at the top table.
While Emery denied its significance, there was no doubt that Nuno Mendes’ late third goal at the Parc des Princes had seriously altered the scale of the task facing his side.
The Spaniard, with four Europa League triumphs on his CV, stuck with Marcus Rashford up front, with Ollie Watkins starting on the bench alongside Paris loanee Marco Asensio.
It wasn’t a hell-for-leather attacking starting line-up. Emery was prepared to play it patient against the perennial French champions, who have been arguably the best team in Europe over recent months.
It was a filthy old Birmingham night, but the piddling rain didn’t dampen the atmosphere; the home supporters were full-throated while many of the Parisian ultras were as topless as Geordies in the rain.
Weirdly, they played the Europa League before a belated blast of the Champions League anthem.
But straight from kick-off, it was an assault on the senses. A couple of early Villa corners were greeted with insane decibel levels, the Holte End waiting to erupt like some great Brummie Vesuvius.
From one, Amadou Onana flicked a near-post header but Joao Neves deflected it wide.
Even Prince William and Prince George were getting involved, but the French, with very different ideas about hereditary monarchy, set about putting Villa to the guillotine.
And on 11 minutes, the early Paris they had all been dreading duly arrived.
Mendes released Bradley Barcola, who outpaced Matty Cash down the left and centred low.
Emi Martinez, public enemy No.1 with the PSG fans, delighted the travelling Frenchmen by allowing the ball to squirm out of his grasp, with Hakimi on hand to spank it past him.
Villa continued to attack, but Rashford was struggling to make an impact, squandering several moments of promise.
Pau Torres lashed a shot goalwards but Gianluigi Donnarumma repelled him.
Morgan Rogers cut inside William Pacho but placed his shot wide of the far post.
And when Paris attacked, there was greater control and purpose, with Cash being targeted mercilessly.
Soon, Enrique’s side broke and Villa were caught with their pants down – two defenders against four marauding attackers – and Ousmane Dembele squared for Mendes to ping a low shot in off the post.
Paris had scored five unanswered goals in less than 80 minutes of football across the two legs – a start which scarcely overplayed their dominance.
At most stadiums, that would have been the moment the pin pricked the balloon.
Here, they just kept on howling – especially when Tielemans tumbled in the box and the ref was unmoved.
Still, no matter, within a minute the Belgian had pulled one back – reducing the overall deficit to three – receiving a McGinn pass and rattling off a shot which took a massive deflection off Pacho, giving Donnarumma no chance.
Surprisingly, there were no half-time changes from Emery, but perhaps he knows what he’s doing because within 12 minutes of the restart, Villa were ahead on the night and back to within a goal of parity.
First, McGinn rumbled forward from the halfway line and let rip with a 25-yard shot which deflected off Pacho’s knee and made it level on the night.
Then, Rashford cut in from the left and Donnarumma tipped over at full stretch.
The corner was initially cleared, but Rashford skinned two defenders on a weaving run and cut back for Konsa to ram home.
Forty thousand throats created a sonic boom. PSG were deafened and punch-drunk.
Donnarumma needed all of his 6ft 7in frame to claw away a Tielemans header.
Emery sent on Asensio and Jacob Ramsey for Onana and McGinn. And soon, Asensio was clean through on goal from a gorgeous Torres through-ball, with Donnarumma advancing to save with a foot.
Watkins was sent on for Rashford 15 minutes from time, but Martinez was soon needed to thwart Dembele, Paris retaining their attacking threat amid the bedlam.
Finally, Emery’s men ran out of puff – an Ian Maatsen shot blocked in injury time.
But Villa’s supporters never lost their voices and PSG’s players will need some time to regain their composure and their hearing after this.