Birmingham, April 16: Their players were rattled. Their goalkeeper was pulling off save after save. For Paris Saint-Germain, another brutal “remontada” looked on the cards in the Champions League.
This time, the French champions just about hung on.
PSG staved off a gallant fightback by Aston Villa to reach the semifinals of Europe’s top competition despite a 3-2 loss to the English club on Tuesday.
Holding a 3-1 lead from last week’s quarterfinal first leg, PSG built a four-goal cushion thanks to goals by full backs Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes inside 27 minutes at Villa Park.
Villa, cheered on by Prince William, roared back thanks to a deflected shot before halftime by Youri Tielemans and then goals in a two-minute span from John McGinn and Ezri Konsa by the 57th.
Only a string of brilliant stops from PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma denied Villa a fourth goal that would have taken the match to extra time and seen the French club blow another four-goal lead – just like it did famously when losing to Barcelona in 2017, when current Villa manager Unai Emery was in charge of PSG.“I don’t think we could have done anymore,” Konsa said.
PSG advanced 5-4 on aggregate to knock out a second Premier League team, after Liverpool in the round of 16. Next up could be another in Arsenal, which leads Real Madrid 3-0 from the first leg.
In Tuesday’s other quarterfinal, Barcelona advanced 5-3 on aggregate after losing 3-1 to Borussia Dortmund in the second leg.
PSG advanced to the semifinals for the third time in five seasons and this time they’ve done it without their “galacticos,” with Neymar, Lionel Messi and most recently Kylian Mbappé having left the club.
“I think over the two matches, we deserved to win,” PSG coach Luis Enrique said. (AP)
