Paris Saint-Germain staves off dramatic Villa comeback to reach semifinals

BIRMINGHAM, England — Their players were rattled. Their goalkeeper was pulling off save after save. For Paris Saint-Germain, it faced another brutal Champions League comeback loss.

This time, though, the French champion 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 England's Prince William, roared back thanks to a deflected shot before halftime by Youri Tielemans, and then two goals in as many minutes from John McGinn and Ezri Konsa in the 55th and 57th, respectively.

Only a string of brilliant stops from PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma denied Villa a fourth goal, which would have taken the match to extra time and seen the French club blow another four-goal lead — just like it did famously against Barcelona in 2017, when current Villa manager Unai Emery was at the helm.

"I don't think we could have done anymore," Konsa said.

PSG advanced 5-4 on aggregate, knocking out a second Premier League team, after dispatching English champion-elect Liverpool in the round of 16. Next up could be another — Arsenal — which leads Real Madrid 3-0 from its first leg.

PSG was thankful to goalkeeper Donnarumma for keeping Emery's men at bay and preventing another famous collapse in the Champions League knockout stages.

"At the end, we had them suffering like we did," said Emery.

"To get to this level is the next step forward that I want to try to build with Aston Villa."

In Tuesday's other quarterfinal second leg, Barcelona advanced 5-3 on aggregate after losing 3-1 to Borussia Dortmund.

PSG advanced to the semifinals for the third time in five seasons, and this time it has done it without its "galacticos", with Neymar, Lionel Messi, and most recently Kylian Mbappe, having left the club.

Before the return leg against Villa, this new-look PSG side was being talked up as a potential Champions League winner, but that viewpoint might be checked given the way the team nearly collapsed at Villa Park.

"We believed in the end we were going to go through," Marquinhos, PSG's Brazilian center-back, told Amazon Prime.

"But this is the Champions League — the games are always going to be difficult."

Donnarumma ended up being PSG's savior, diving full length to claw away a powerful shot by Marcus Rashford and a header by Tielemans, and then standing tall to keep out Marco Asensio — a player on loan from PSG — when the playmaker was clean through.

Then, with virtually the last kick of the game, Villa substitute Ian Maatsen sent in a volley that might have been swerving into the corner, only for PSG defender Willian Pacho to block the shot near the line.

There was as much relief as there was joy in the celebrations of PSG's players, who are bidding to win the club's first Champions League title. It lost in the final to Bayern Munich in 2020, and was eliminated in the semifinals last season by eventual runner-up Dortmund.

For Villa, it's the end of the road in the club's first European Cup campaign since the 1982-83 season — when it was the reigning champion.

Now, it's all about qualifying again, with Villa sitting in seventh place in the Premier League, and a point off the Champions League qualification spots.

"We showed tonight we can compete at the highest level," Konsa said.

"And we want to do it again next season."

Agencies