PSG at Villa Park, energy, mindset and match facts from the BBC
I'm only going to use a cliché in this first paragraph, because we know they'll have to be at their absolute best tonight and we have a mountain to climb. It's not exactly a David v Goliath clash but it does feel a little like that. Do we need a miracle?
I can't stop, sorry. It's a game of two halves and the second kicks off tonight and anything can happen in 90 minutes. Would you bet against Real Madrid tomorrow night? I know we're not exactly Real Madrid, but not many thought Arsenal would do what Arsenal did and we've all witnessed special moments in football.
And that special moment isn't just for the players on the pitch. It's for us too and everyone associated with the Club. I heard the manager yesterday talk about energy. You probably don't know this about me, but I'm a big fan of energy having spent six months in South Africa 30 odd years ago doing lots of things I can't write about on here.
We have to believe and not just about tonight, but all time. It's a mindset thing and you don't get something unless you put it out there. What we put out, how we put out there and in what form we get what we want is determined by many things and for Aston Villa, lots of people have a part to play.
Anything is possible tonight and we wake up tomorrow morning. What changes?
Match facts from the BBC
Aston Villa have lost three of their four games against French sides in European competition under Unai Emery, with all three of those defeats coming in succession (1-2 v Lille, 0-1 v Monaco, and 1-3 v Paris SG). Their one victory did come in the only one of these four played at Villa Park, however, beating Lille 2-1 in April 2024 (UEFA Conference League).
Of the seven previous occasions when Paris SG have won the first leg of a UEFA Champions League knockout stage tie by 2+ goals, the French side have been eliminated on three occasions. Should they fail to progress here, they’ll have been eliminated from more European Cup/UEFA Champions League knockout stage ties having had a 2+ goal lead from the first leg than any other team (4).
Aston Villa’s defeat against Paris SG in the reverse fixture was the third time they’ve lost by 2+ goals in the first leg of a knockout stage tie in major European competition, while they failed to progress in each of the previous two instances (on aggregate: 1-5 v Royal Antwerp in 1975-76 in the UEFA Cup and 2-6 v Olympiakos last season in the UEFA Conference League).
Paris SG have only won four of their 17 away games against English teams in European competition (D4 L9). One of those victories did come in the most recent one (1-0 v Liverpool in March), however, ending a run of four straight defeats in such fixtures.
Since the start of the 2022-23 season, Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has only lost one of his 13 home matches in major European competition as a manager, while winning 11 of them (D1). His only defeat in this run came in May 2024 against Olympiakos (2-4 in the UEFA Conference League semi-final, first leg).
Paris SG have averaged 11.2 high turnovers per game in the UEFA Champions League this season; their most in a single edition on record (since 2012-13). They’ve also recorded 36 shot-ending high turnovers in 2024-25, which is more than they had in the previous three editions combined (28).
Paris SG have four different players who’ve been directly involved in 5+ goals in the UEFA Champions League this season, in Ousmane Dembélé (9), Achraf Hakimi (6), Bradley Barcola (6) and Désiré Doué (5). They’ve never previously had more players do so in a single edition, while they have three players currently on four goal involvements (Gonçalo Ramos, Fabián Ruiz, and Nuno Mendes).
Morgan Rogers has been directly involved in six goals for Aston Villa in the UEFA Champions League this season (four goals, two assists). Only two English players aged under-23 have ever had more goal involvements in a single edition of the competition: Jude Bellingham (9) and Bukayo Saka (8), both in 2023-24.
Paris SG midfielder João Neves has applied more high-intensity pressures than any other midfielder in the UEFA Champions League this season (651), while his 42 tackles are the most by a midfielder in a single edition of the competition since Real Madrid’s Casemiro in 2017-18 (45).
Youri Tielemans leads all Aston Villa players in the UEFA Champions League this season for passes completed (534) and line-breaking passes (104), as well as possession recoveries (45) and tackles (19).
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