Aston Villa will look to overturn a two-goal deficit and book their place in the semi-finals of the Champions League on Tuesday evening, when entertaining Paris Saint-Germain in the second leg of their quarter-final clash at Villa Park.
PSG claimed a 3-1 first leg victory at the Parc des Princes last Wednesday, ending Villa's run of seven consecutive victories in all competitions.
Unai Emery's side returned to winning ways over the weekend with a 3-0 triumph in the Premier League on the road at Southampton, and will need to beat the Parisians by at least two goals to stand any chance of progressing.
Luis Enrique's side will be well rested, having not played since the first leg, after a weekend away from Ligue 1 action.
PSG sealed the French title for a record 13th time shortly before the first leg, and will be looking to eliminate an English side from the competition for the second time this season, having beaten Liverpool over two legs in the round of 16.
Stats
Youri Tielemans leads all Aston Villa players in the UEFA Champions League this season for passes completed (534) and line-breaking passes (104), as well as possession recoveries (45) and tackles (19).
PSG midfielder João Neves has applied more high-intensity pressures than any other midfielder in the UEFA Champions League this season (651), while his 42 tackles are the most by a midfielder in a single edition of the competition since Real Madrid’s Casemiro in 2017/18 (45).
Morgan Rogers has been directly involved in six goals for Aston Villa in the UEFA Champions League this season (four goals, two assists). Only two English players aged under 23 have ever had more goal involvements in a single edition of the competition: Jude Bellingham (9) and Bukayo Saka (8), both in 2023/24.
PSG have four different players who’ve been directly involved in 5+ goals in the UEFA Champions League this season, in Ousmane Dembélé (9), Achraf Hakimi (6), Bradley Barcola (6) and Désiré Doué (5). They’ve never previously had more players do so in a single edition, while they have three players currently on four goal involvements (Gonçalo Ramos, Fabián Ruiz, and Nuno Mendes).
PSG have averaged 11.2 high turnovers per game in the UEFA Champions League this season; their most in a single edition on record (since 2012/13). They’ve also recorded 36 shot-ending high turnovers in 2024/25, which is more than they had in the previous three editions combined (28).
Since the start of the 2022/23 season, Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has only lost one of his 13 home matches in major European competition as a manager, while winning 11 of them (D1). His only defeat in this run came in May 2024 against Olympiakos (2-4 in the UEFA Conference League semi-final, first leg).
PSG have only won four of their 17 away games against English teams in European competition (D4 L9). One of those victories did come in the most recent one (1-0 v Liverpool in March), however, ending a run of four straight defeats in such fixtures.
Aston Villa’s defeat against PSG in the reverse fixture was the third time they’ve lost by 2+ goals in the first leg of a knockout stage tie in major European competition, while they failed to progress in each of the previous two instances (on aggregate: 1-5 v Royal Antwerp in 1975/76 in the UEFA Cup and 2-6 v Olympiakos last season in the UEFA Conference League).
Of the seven previous occasions when PSG have won the first leg of a UEFA Champions League knockout stage tie by 2+ goals, the French side have been eliminated on three occasions. Should they fail to progress here, they’ll have been eliminated from more European Cup/UEFA Champions League knockout stage ties having had a 2+ goal lead from the first leg than any other team (4).
Aston Villa have lost three of their four games against French sides in European competition under Unai Emery, with all three of those defeats coming in succession (1-2 v Lille, 0-1 v Monaco, and 1-3 v PSG). Their one victory did come in the only one of these four played at Villa Park, however, beating Lille 2-1 in April 2024 (UEFA Conference League).
The first leg
Villa will need to overturn a two-goal deficit at Villa Park, having fallen to a 3-1 defeat in the first leg at the Parc des Princes last Wednesday.
Morgan Rogers put the Villans in dreamland 35 minutes in, when turning Youri Tielemans' ball to the back post home to give his side the lead.
But PSG quickly equalised through Désiré Doué, before spinning the game on its head within five minutes of the second half starting, thanks to Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. Nuno Mendes added a third goal in stoppage time to ensure the Parisians would take a two-goal advantage into the second leg.
Team News
Leon Bailey is still a doubt for the Villans, having not featured since the international break through injury.
Unai Emery will again be without Donyell Malen and Andrés García, who are not included in Villa's Champions League squad, though everyone else is expected to be fit and available.
Luis Enrique should be able to boast a clean bill of health and a full squad to pick from for the second leg, having not had a match over the weekend.
Captain Marquinhos returns from suspension at Villa Park, while Lee Kang-in was fit enough for the bench in Paris.
Managers' Pre-Match Thoughts
“We have to believe, showing our wishes to get it, respecting (PSG) in the same way we did there, but of course trying to use now Villa Park like our home and like our fortress. We are a lot of time feeling it, and to share with our supporters the really motivated match to play tomorrow.”
Unai Emery
“The objectives are very clear: to solve the problems that this Aston Villa team will pose for us during the match, and to win the game. At the end of tomorrow’s match, only one of the two teams will qualify for the semi-finals. That’s what makes this competition so exciting. There’s no overconfidence on our part, only the determination to deal with the problems Aston Villa will look to cause us.”
Luis Enrique
