Aston Villa continue their Champions League journey at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday evening, taking on Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of their quarter-final tie.
Unai Emery’s side will be looking to extend a seven-match winning run in the French capital, having won all three outings since returning from the international break.
For the Villa boss, it will be a reunion with one of his former sides, the Spaniard winning seven trophies while in charge of PSG between 2016 and 2018.
The Villans booked their place in the last eight with an emphatic 6-1 aggregate victory over Club Brugge in March, after an impressive league phase saw them finish in the top eight positions to automatically qualify for the round of 16.
Unlike Villa, PSG finished outside of the table’s top eight, and needed to successfully negate a round of 32 clash with Brest - which they did by winning 10-0 over two legs - in order to set up a last 16 tie with Premier League leaders Liverpool.
Despite falling to a 1-0 first leg defeat in Paris, Luis Enrique’s side rallied at Anfield, winning 1-0 to take the tie to extra-time and penalties, where Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma saved from Curtis Jones and Darwin Núñez to dramatically send his side through.
The Parisians will also be entering this clash on a high. Over the weekend, they secured a record 13th French title with a 1-0 win over Angers at the Parc des Princes, with a trophy quadruple still a possibility for Enrique’s men this season.
Stats
Marco Asensio has scored three goals in two UEFA Champions League appearances for Aston Villa (both as a substitute), after failing to score in 10 games for former club PSG in the competition. If he finds the net in this game, 2024/25 would be his best ever return in a single Champions League campaign (currently on three).
PSG’s Vitinha has completed 93% of his passes made under high-intensity pressure in the UEFA Champions League this season (544/586); the highest completion rate of any midfielder in the competition (min. 100 attempted). The Portuguese also leads all players for line-breaking passes in the knockout stages of the current tournament (77).
Ousmane Dembélé has netted seven goals in his last six UEFA Champions League games for PSG, one more than in his previous 36 appearances in the competition combined (6). Six of those seven goals have been scored in away matches, however.
52% of Aston Villa’s chances created in the UEFA Champions League this season have come from the middle third of the pitch (left/middle/right); the highest percentage of any side. Meanwhile, Unai Emery’s team have conceded the fewest overall chances from the middle third this term (12).
PSG have the fifth-youngest starting XI on average in the UEFA Champions League this season (24y 242d), and the youngest of any team remaining in the 2024/25 tournament.
Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has won just two of his 10 games against Luis Enrique as a manager (D1 L7), with both wins coming in home fixtures.
Aston Villa will be the fourth different English team that PSG have faced in the UEFA Champions League this season (also Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool). This is the joint-most opponents from one nation that a team have played against in a single European Cup/Champions League campaign, along with Leeds United in 2000/01 (four Spanish sides) and Real Madrid in 2023/24 (four German sides).
Aston Villa have never won away to a French opponent in European competition (P5 D2 L3); their most away to teams from one nation without winning. The last two have both been defeats under Unai Emery, losing at Lille in April 2024 (1-2) and at Monaco in January this year (0-1).
PSG eliminated Liverpool in the last 16 of this season’s UEFA Champions League, after having exited the competition in each of their last three knockout stage meetings with English sides (v Man City in 2015/16 and 2020/21, and Man Utd in 2018/19).
PSG and Aston Villa will meet for the first time in European competition, with this just the second UEFA Champions League quarter-final between French and English sides in the last eight campaigns (Manchester City 1-3 Lyon in the only leg in 2019/20).
The round of 16
The 2020 finalists were given a scare in the last 16, falling to a first leg defeat at home to Liverpool courtesy of Harvey Elliott’s late strike.
But Enrique’s man battled back at Anfield, courageously taking the tie to extra-time and penalties thanks to Ousmane Dembélé’s early goal.
Giant Italian stopper Donnarumma then saved two penalties in the shoot-out to help PSG dramatically book their place in the last 16.
Villa, conversely, brushed Belgian outfit Club Brugge aside over two legs in their last 16 tie.
Goals from Leon Bailey and Marco Asensio (penalty), as well as a Brandon Mechele own-goal, gave Emery’s men a healthy 3-1 advantage to take back to Villa Park for the second leg.
In B6, after a goalless opening period, Bailey and Asensio’s half-time introductions inspired the hosts, the latter netting either side of Ian Maatsen’s first goal for the club to seal a comprehensive 6-1 aggregate triumph.
Team News
Ross Barkley is in contention having been back in training with his team-mates for the past few weeks, though Leon Bailey remains a doubt.
Andrés García and Donyell Malen will be unavailable having not been registered in Villa's Champions League squad.
Luis Enrique will be without captain Marquinhos, as the Brazilian defender serves a suspension having picked up too many Champions League yellow cards.
The Parisians will also be without Lee Kang-in who remains their only injury doubt, though will have a fully-fit squad otherwise.
Managers' Pre-Match Thoughts
“We are feeling confident. We are feeling comfortable in this competition. Tomorrow, my objective is to compete, to have our opportunities and to enjoy the way we are doing.”
Unai Emery
“As far as I'm concerned, there's no such thing as favourites in football. There are eight teams who deserve to be at this stage of the competition, eight teams who can qualify for the next stage.”
Luis Enrique