Aston Villa boss Unai Emery is relishing the prospect of welcoming Paris Saint-Germain to Villa Park in the second leg of our Champions League quarter-final tie next week.
Villa suffered a 3-1 defeat in the French capital in the first encounter on Wednesday night, as despite breaking the deadlock and taking the lead through Morgan Rogers, the home side showed their class as the game went on to emerge victorious.
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Aside from the quality in their three goals, the Ligue 1 champions were relentless in their pressing and intensity right across the pitch, and that made it hugely difficult for Villa to compete, let alone find any rhythm or control.
Emery conceded that the outcome matched his expectation, but he is evidently confident in our ability to turn the tie around when we host PSG next week, and there is still belief within the group that we can still advance to the last four of the competition.
“It was more or less the expectation I had before the match – 2-1 or 3-1,” he told TNT Sports. “We will play at home next week and it will be a huge challenge for us, but we will feel strong at home with our supporters at Villa Park.
“Today, we needed to be disciplined in defence and even when we were losing 2-1, we had three approaches in their box. More or less, we are right in our momentum to be close to a result. The last goal we conceded, we have to accept it. Our mind doesn’t change a lot – we have to win at home and by more than one goal.
“In the first half, we had three or four chances to get in their box, maybe only one chance to score. We needed to be clinical and we were in the first half, not in the second.
“We believe in our supporters, we believe in Villa Park and that the players can get the best performance next week.”
While the tie is far from over with the second meeting still to come, there is no denying the high level that PSG are playing at currently, and that will make it a hugely difficult assignment.
With the attacking quality that they possess combined with their style of play and ability to dictate and dominate proceedings with possession, they may well relish the prospect of facing us as we push forward in search of goals to turn things around, and that could ultimately leave us further exposed, leaving space for them to ruthlessly exploit as they did this week.
Nevertheless, that is what we have to do if we are to advance as we look to overturn a two-goal deficit, and it’s hoped that there is a memorable European night at Villa Park ahead as we look to pull off what would be a major upset.
