Paris Saint-Germain lost 3-2 to Aston Villa in the UEFA Champions League quarter-final second leg. However, after a crazy game, Les Rouge et Bleu nonetheless won through to the semi-finals!
Marquinhos made his return from suspension, and Luis Enrique brought in Barcola as a starter in place of Doué. Otherwise, the starting eleven remained unchanged for the battle of Birmingham.
The English side quickly applied the pressure and wanted to take advantage of the home crowd's energy. But Dembélé and his team-mates were solid, quickly getting a foothold on the ball. And they were quickly rewarded when Hakimi opened the scoring. Perfectly played into space by Mendes, Barcola accelerated down the left, cut inside and entered the box before crossing low and hard for Dembélé. Martinez parried the ball fell to Hakimi, who slotted home to put his side in front (0-1, 11').
However, the Aston Villa players weren't about to give up and looked to create openings in a well-organised Parisian defence. Marquinhos was exemplary as usual, and intervened like a boss in front of Rogers and then Rashford to frustrate the home side (17’). The Rouge et Bleu captain was relieved a few moments later by his goalkeeper, Donnarumma, who made a decisive save from a tight angle on a powerful shot from Rashford (19').
Luis Enrique's men displayed the same composure that they have shown for several months now, always calm and always united. And on a counter-attack, they put the knife into their hosts once again. The ball was played out perfectly and Mendes found himself in an ideal position, just inside the box. His shot with the inside of his left boot found the inside of Martinez's right-hand post, and Paris were in the driving seat (0-2, 27').
But a Champions League quarter-final is still a very high-level affair and Villa reduced the deficit through Tielemans, whose shot was deflected by Pacho (1-2, 34'). And inevitably, the Villa players grew in confidence, but Paris proved solid, united and defensively in place, and managed to keep up the pressure.
On the return from the changing rooms, Donnarumma had to work hard to keep out Rashford, who was lingering in the area, to maintain his team's aggregate lead (52'). But the Villans continued to believe and turned the evening around with two goals in quick succession to get their noses in front on the night. First McGinn scored from distance (2-2, 55'), then Konsa, a few moments later, headed in a cross from Rashford (3-2, 57'). Gigio even pulled off a miraculous save two minutes later, from a Tielemans header (59'), as the match took a frenetic turn.
Our Parisians stuck to their philosophy, but also had to contain the English team's enthusiasm. Although they were still ahead on aggregate, Les Rouge et Bleu knew they had no more room for error. Donnarumma made another save from Asensio, who had come on earlier, to steady the ship (70').
The Parisians calmed the waves and regained possession of the ball, but didn't stop probing, notably through Dembélé, who dazzled the defence in the area before his powerful left-footed strike found the firm hands of Martinez (76'). Time was ticking away, and the Parisians were still determined to end the suspense. Hakimi made an incredible run through the opposition box before once again coming up against Martinez (83').
There was one final nervy moment for the Parisians, as a powerful shot from Maatsen was saved by Pacho virtually off the line (90+3)! With courage, the Parisians held out and won through to the last four of the competition - not without a few scares - and now the adventure continues, with even more thrills to come!