Unai Emery’s time as Paris Saint-Germain manager will forever be haunted by "La Remontada" ("the comeback"), that famous night in 2017 when Luis Enrique’s Barcelona overturned a 4-0 first-leg defeat to win 6-1 in Camp Nou and dump the Parisians out of the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League.
Aston Villa’s 3-1 loss in Paris in this year’s quarter-final first leg may not be such an insurmountable scoreline but, given how good Enrique's French champions were, it will take a "remontada" of similar proportions at Villa Park on 15 April for Emery's current team to reach the last four.
Rogers scores first with royal approval, but Doue draws PSG level
Emery was returning to Paris for the first time since leaving PSG seven years ago when he completed his two-season tenure with seven trophies – a haul which didn’t include the Champions League.
A glance at Villa’s line-up was a mark of just how far the club has come since the Spaniard has been in charge. Seven players who started Steven Gerrard’s final match as Villa manager, a 3-0 defeat at Fulham in October 2022, were selected in Emery's XI for this rather more auspicious fixture.
Parc des Princes has been daunting place to go for any team this season - PSG have already wrapped up the Ligue 1 title with six games to spare and might still become the first French team to do so whilst remaining unbeaten.
There was an early storm for Villa to weather, including Emiliano Martinez needing to make a fine save to deny Ousmane Dembele and a penalty scare when the ebullient Khvicha Kvaratskhelia cut inside from the right and tumbled under Ezri Konsa’s challenge.
Matty Cash was particularly busy and had already fouled Kvaratskhelia several times before he was booked in the 17th minute as he abruptly halted another driving run from the Georgian. Vitinha was the conduit for all of the approach play from Enrique’s side, sitting at the base of midfield, dictating the play in the mould of an old-fashioned playmaker with Kvaratskhelia, Dembele and Desire Doue offering numerous options ahead of him.
Villa were defending doggedly but struggling to get out of their own half and Martinez’s 14 touches in the opening 25 minutes were three more than any of his team-mates. But Emery is famed for constructing counter-attacking teams and with his side’s first foray forward, they led completely against the run of play when John McGinn stole the ball from Nuno Mendes and quickly found Marcus Rashford who slipped a first-time pass to Youri Tielemans.
From there, the Belgian coolly rolled the ball across the six-yard box where Morgan Rogers gleefully drove it into an empty net to leave Paris stunned. The only happy princes in the Parc des Princes were William and George, pictured below celebrating their side's surprising opener.
It was almost too good to be true - and so it proved for all of four minutes when Rogers was powerless to stop 19 year-old winger Doue cutting in from the left and unfurling an unstoppable effort into the top right-hand corner.
Enrique's champions take the lead they deserved
As good as that goal was, the one which put Enrique’s side in control at the beginning of the second half was even better. An incisive, flowing move through midfield soon reached Kvaratskhelia who turned half-time substitute Axel Disasi inside out before somehow summoning both the power and angle to beat Martinez at his near post.
It was not an uncommon sight to see all 11 Villa players behind the ball during the second half and Boubacar Kamara did an admirable job of stemming the constant tide of PSG attacks with the threat of further goals remaining constant. The Frenchman will no doubt be required to perform similar heroics when the tie resumes at Villa Park next Tuesday.
Emery can take plenty of heart at the defensive resilience shown by his team who remained narrow, compact and laser-focussed on the task of tracking PSG’s perpetual movement.
Villa held out until the 92nd minute when PSG secured a two-goal margin which they had undoubtedly deserved, when a perfectly-weighted pass from Dembele saw Mendes check back onto his supposedly weaker right foot and guide his finish into the far corner.
When PSG and Villa were most threatening
Villa not finished yet
As tough a task as they face, Villa scorer Rogers says that there is still plenty of belief in the Villa camp ahead of next week’s second leg.
"It’s not done yet," said a defiant Rogers. "We’re here for a reason, not just to compete. We knew we were in a fight and we knew we had to defend well and battle. We going to go for everything and try and win the tie."
Ahead of the fixture, Enrique had described Emery as “one of the best coaches on the planet” and he will need to be to keep both domestic and European hopes alive this season.
Speaking after the defeat in Paris, Emery said: “More or less the expectation I had in the 90 minutes, happened. We can feel strong at home with our supporters at Villa Park.
"Of course, the result is not good for us but at home, it’s a chance for us to show our power."
One eye on next season’s Champions League?
A trip to already relegated Southampton in the Premier League on Saturday is a favourable one for Emery, sandwiched as it is between the two legs of this quarter-final.
But with Arsenal’s historic win over Real Madrid on Tuesday night, five Champions League places are set to be awarded to English teams for next season.
Villa, currently seventh, cannot afford to lose any ground on Chelsea, Manchester City and Newcastle United in their final seven Premier League fixtures and have the small matter of an FA Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace to come as well.
