Paris St Germain won tickets to the Champions League semi -finals after the dramatic second leg of the quarter -final against Aston Villa. The Premier League representative almost made a story when he defeated PSG 3-2 at home. However, they still lack a goal to at least pull the match into extra time.
After a 3-1 victory in the first leg, PSG continued to increase the advantage when leading 2-0 in the second leg. Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes are the scales for PSG at Villa Park.
The goal of Youri Tielemans just before the break time brought hope to Villa. And they stunned PSG when leading 3-2 with John McGinn and Ezri Konsa's goals at the beginning of the second half.
Villa then missed a series of opportunities to balance the score when PSG tried to preserve the advantage. The Ligue 1 champion finally won the right to the semi -finals, meeting the winning team in the match between Real Madrid and Arsenal.
"After being led 0-2, the distance is too big, but today the players have played great. They follow the tactical plan and maintain consistency throughout the match.
PSG has also been under pressure from our pressing gameplay. That was the moment we were missing in the last minutes in Paris. Today, in the last 20 minutes, we tried to press and make them more tired to search for a decisive goal " - Aston Villa's Unai Emery coach said.
Aston Villa certainly fought hard in this tense Champions League quarter -finals. However, the European champion in 1982 protested too late to be able to save himself against a quality team like PSG.
Emery's team found something different in the second half. They made PSG terrified when turning the flag with McGinn and Konsa's goals. Marcus Rashford, Konsa and Marco Asensio have come close to the balance of the score. Even, Ian Maatsen almost brought the match into extra time with a shot blocked during injury time.
Villa really had the opportunity to save the match and create an incredible backward. Unfortunately, they could not score the decisive goal. PSG has been firm, but the weakness they show in the second half will be a concern when the next opponent is Real or Arsenal.
"We can be proud and satisfied with this performance. But if we want to rise to a higher level, we need to learn from PSG itself. They are the team that shows that level in both matches.
Fans have added a lot of energy, and we really feel confident when playing at home. I would like to express my sincere thanks to the fans " - Emery added.
