Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 Aston Villa (Doue 39′, Kvaratskhelia 49′, Mendes 90+2′ | Rogers 35′)
An Aston Villa fan on the Eurostar over said he wouldn’t mind “stinking the place out”. To bring the bin strike to Paris, if you will, and ensure his side took a contest back to Birmingham for next week’s return leg.
Paris Saint-Germain though had their own ideas and will crucially take a two-goal lead to Villa Park after Nuno Mendes’s late, late strike followed two wondergoals in this Champions League quarter-final first leg.
For four minutes, Morgan Rogers had Villa fans dreaming. After surviving an early onslaught the England international put the visitors ahead when rounding off a fine team move, only for the teenager whose surname translates to gifted to then quickly equalise, Desire Doue finding the top corner with an emphatic finish.
PSG level the game up!
That finish from Désiré Doué is out of this world
@tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/NtPzW2cYgL
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 9, 2025
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia followed suit after the break with a rocket, with Mendes then scoring in second-half injury time to break Villa hearts.
It means the prospect of another reunion for Emery is hanging by a thread. The Spaniard knows how badly two of his former teams want to win this competition for the first time, with back-to-back Champions League failures ultimately costing him his job at PSG.
Seven years on from that dismissal he has been tasked with forcing the new-look French champions into another early inquisition, and the first half of this mission was to ensure there was still a tie to be played at Villa Park on Tuesday.
Returning to his old digs, Emery opted to drop Ollie Watkins and start Marcus Rashford up front, while loanee Marco Asensio also settled for a place on the bench against his parent club.
With John McGinn the central attacking midfielder it spoke of the defensive mindset Villa would approach this game with, and few were surprised how it started at the Parc des Princes.
First came the jeers for Emiliano Martinez, a villain in this country ever since his 2022 World Cup final antics, and the saves soon followed from Villa’s goalkeeper as he denied Vitinha and Ousmane Dembele inside the first 10 minutes.
The plan was to last another 80, but rather remarkably after Villa weathered a storm they then went ahead shortly after the half-hour mark, Rogers there at the back post to finish a move that started when McGinn bulldozed Mendes off the ball.
Villa knew they’d be feeding off scraps and they had done so in style, but soon they were back at square one as a pearler from Doue levelled the match, the 19-year-old leaving Martinez rooted to the spot as his strike found the top corner.
PSG therefore managed what they failed to do with 27 shots at home against Liverpool in the previous round, and Villa found themselves grateful for the half-time whistle, particularly after Doue almost danced his way through to put the hosts ahead in first-half injury time.
The break gave Villa an opportunity to regroup and reset their focus, while it was on PSG to move up a gear, for they may have had 15 attempts including six on target, but clear-cut chances were few and far between.
Not to matter, though. PSG weren’t in the business of finishing off golden opportunities, they were only interested in golazos, and four minutes into the second half Kvaratskhelia matched Doue’s efforts.
There's no stopping Kvaratskhelia in that position
What a goal
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 9, 2025
Everything about it was spectacular. The speed at which the Georgian approached the penalty area, the stud roll that sent Axel Disasi to the boulangerie, and finally the fierce effort from a narrow angle that found the near top corner. “Absolutely ridiculous,” Ally McCoist said on TNT Sports.
Quite right, and just as it appeared Villa would keep it to a one-goal deficit, Mendes struck late on after Dembele thread the needle with a superb pass to give PSG a healthier lead.
Some watch, some team, and when throwing in Declan Rice’s heroics from Tuesday, the Champions League really has been the Doue that has kept on giving this week.
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