Aston Villa vs Paris Saint-Germain Preview

Aston Villa will welcome PSG to Villa Park this Tuesday for the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie.

Villa come into this second leg with a two-goal deficit, having suffered a 3-1 loss in the first leg at Parc des Princes. They bounced back from that loss to boost their top-five aspirations in the Premier League by winning 3-0 at Southampton at the weekend.

That win saw them become the first Premier League team to see three different substitutes score in a game so they will be looking to build on that second-half momentum here. History suggests that Unai Emery and his Villa side aren’t out of this tie as they have progressed in seven of 12 European ties in which they lost the first leg away from home.

Villa’s favourable home record against French sides (W3, L1) or their ten wins across their last 12 European home games (D1, L1), which includes multi-goal margin victories in their last three Champions League home successes, may add some extra confidence.

Meanwhile, PSG will travel to Villa Park full of confidence and energy after a weekend of pure preparation thanks to the postponement of their scheduled league game. The Parisians have marginally had the better of five clashes against Premier League opponents already this season (W3, L2), although their win at Liverpool in the round of 16 ended a four-game losing run away in England.

PSG’s record of progression in the quarter-final stage of the Champions League is evenly split (W4, L4), yet history suggests that Luis Enrique’s men have the edge here after progressing from 13 of their 19 ties when winning the first leg at home. There is a note of caution, though, as while PSG’s Champions League away form shows that they’ve been respectable since the start of 2023/24 on their travels (W6, D1, L5), their only two defeats by 2+ goal margins in that time came against English sides.