Aston Villa v Paris Saint-Germain: Champions League quarter-final, second leg – live | Champions League
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67 min: McGinn, his work here done, is replaced by Marco Asensio, a headline in the making given he’s on loan from PSG. Onana meanwhile makes way for Jacob Ramsey.
65 min: Villa Park is in Bedlam Mode, by the way. Like you need telling that. But one more PSG goal would surely burst the bubble, and Dembele tries to provide it by lashing a low drive goalwards from a tight angle on the right. Martinez gets down to handle convincingly.
63 min: Rashford hassles Vitinha in the middle of the park. The dynamic suddenly so different. Vitinha was the boss of the first half, with Rashford invisible. But now look! What an assist Rashford provided for Konsa’s goal, and now he’s really up for this.
60 min: The corner’s pulled back. Tielemans shoots, a bouncing bomb into the box. Torres heads over. Very similar vibes to the early second-half one-two Liverpool performed on Barcelona in their 2019 semi-final 4-0 comeback. Similar timings to Georginio Wijnaldum’s double-whammy that evening as well.
GOAL! Aston Villa 3-2 PSG (Konsa 58); agg 4-5 Rashford jinks in from the right. He reaches the byline, by the corner of the six-yard box, and pulls back for Konsa, rushing in. Konsa opens his body and slots into the bottom right! It’s on! It really is on!
Aston Villa’s Ezri Konsa puts the home side ahead. Photograph: Hannah McKay/ReutersCue celebrations amongst the Villa fans. Photograph: Matthew Childs/Action Images/ReutersShare Updated at 22.24 CEST
57 min: Rashford, who has done very little so far this evening, drifts in from the left and launches a rising shot towards the top-right corner. Donnarumma extends and tips around the corner. And from that …
GOAL! Aston Villa 2-2 PSG (McGinn 55); agg 3-5 McGinn is allowed to run down the inside-left channel. And run. And run. He takes a whack at goal from 30 yards. A pearler rises and dips into the top-right corner, Donnarumma wrong-footed for the second time this evening. A slight nick, you see. They couldn’t, could they?!
John McGinn has the Aston Villa fans dreaming of a historical comeback. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The GuardianShare Updated at 22.17 CEST
53 min: Tielemans bustles into the PSG box but loses control. Neither Marquinhos nor Hakimi know where the ball is. It falls to Rashford, who can’t force past the spreading Donnarumma. PSG go up the pitch, and Dembele is sent clear from the halfway line. He’s clearly offside, the only outfield player in the Villa half, but is allowed to run all the way before delicately dinking over Martinez. Lovely finish, but it’s obviously going to be ruled out. And it is.
51 min: A bit of space for Cash down the right. He’s got a couple of pals in the middle, but hesitates to cross, defenders swarm, and the opportunity goes by.
48 min: Other than that, a fairly quiet start to the half, even if Villa are buzzing around in the hope of forcing an early mistake.
46 min: McGinn chases after a long ball down the middle. Marquinhos stands his ground. The defender catches McGinn in the face with an accidental arm. McGinn goes down. He’s not happy. He claims to have been deliberately elbowed. The referee’s having none of it, but McGinn has been on a rolling boil ever since that tangle with Hakimi. Tony Hughes, of half-time postbag fame, could be onto something.
Half-time postbag. “Many years ago Jonathan Wilson made the point that in the post-sweeper era, the national side with the best fullbacks generally won the the World Cup. I know that this was a point about the international game, but no club has a better pair of fullbacks than Nuno Mendes and Achraf Hakimi, which bodes well for PSG” – Kári Tulinius
“Not exactly Nostradamus-level, but I reckon the second half has at least a red card in it somewhere” – Tony Hughes
“Even though it’s still a tall task, I was thrilled to see Villa get on back. Then they showed Prince William celebrating. Come on PSG, put in another five!” – Rob Coughlin
Share Updated at 21.58 CEST
Source link Posted: 2025-04-15 21:25:16