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Paris Saint-Germain have advanced to the Champions League semi-final for the second straight season after defeating Aston Villa 5-4 on aggregate.
Having won the first leg 3-1, the French side increased their lead to 5-1 in the opening half hour at Villa Park through goals from Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes. Even after the hosts pulled a goal back before half-time through Youri Tielemans, PSG still looked certain to advance.
That certainty was shattered early in the second half as John McGinn and Ezri Konsa each scored in the space of two minutes to cut Villa's deficit to 5-4. The hosts then created several big chances to equalise but couldn't find one more goal, leaving them just short of completing a miraculous comeback.
PSG will face the winner of Real Madrid vs. Arsenal in the semi-final. The English side hold a 3-0 lead heading into Wednesday's second leg at the Bernabeu.
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Not long to wait for more Champions League quarter-final drama!
In 24 hours' time, Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain will know which other two teams will be joining them in the semi-final.
Real Madrid a have a 3-0 deficit to turnaround at the Bernabeu against Arsenal while Inter are protecting a 2-1 lead at home against Bayern Munich.
We'll be covering every kick of the action from Madrid, so make sure to join us for that one.
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John McGinn got the goal that tilted the momentum in Aston Villa's favour this evening and he spoke to TNT Sports after the match.
"Obvious disappointment but I am proud of my team-mates, proud of the club. We have come a long way," he said. "We were so, so close tonight. We just fell a little bit short.
"We had chances to take the game to extra time but we've got to be proud about the way we come back against one of the best teams in the world, to fight to the end.
"We want more. We want to be back here next season and we will try our best to do that."
After Paris Saint-Germain's aggregate victory, Vitinha spoke about how difficult Aston Villa made things for his side.
"The most important thing is qualifying for the semi-finals," he said. "It wasn’t easy, but we managed to hold onto our advantage until the end. When we aren’t at our best, we can be punished like we were today.
"It was challenging. Early in the second half, with the crowd behind them, (Villa) made it very difficult for us. But we made it through."
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With victory on aggregate tonight, PSG have qualified for their ninth European semi-final; five in the Champions League, one in the Europa League and three in the Cup Winners' Cup.
Coming into today, they were tied on eight with Marseille, so they have now gone out on their own as the French team with the most semi-final appearances.
Luis Enrique was also asked by Prime Video whether he feared losing once Aston Villa had cut Paris Saint-Germain's aggregate lead to 5-4.
"At that point, they didn't have anything to lose because they lost the first match and were losing at half-time. It is always difficult to play those kind of games," he said.
Asked whether Gianluigi Donnarumma is the best goalkeeper in the world, the manager chose to praise his entire squad rather than just one player.
"I think have the best squad in the world, not only the best goalkeeper," said Luis Enrique. "You have a lot of quality players at a club like PSG. It allows us to grow and compete better."
A wild night at Villa Park saw five goals scored and Paris Saint-Germain advancing to the Champions League semi-finals by a narrow margin. Jacob Tanswell, Oli Kay and Thom Harris have analysed the frantic game, looking at:
Follow the link below to check out their breakdown.
GO FURTHER
Aston Villa 3 PSG 2 (4-5 agg) – Comeback win not quite enough for Emery’s side in Champions League classic
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After the match, Luis Enrique told Prime Video that his side deserved to go through to the semi-final.
"I think so, simple as that," he said in response to being asked whether the best team advanced. "We cannot forget, this is the Champions League and the other team has a lot of quality. Aston Villa played with a lot of intensity. The whole two matches, we deserved to win.
"The second year in a row in the semi-finals and we want to go into the next phase."
Damian Vidagany, Aston Villa's Director of Football Operations, has taken to X to celebrate his team's performance despite their defeat.
"It hurts. Not enough to be happy, but enough to be proud of each fan, player and staff. We will come back for more. To see Donarumma wasting time and to see him being the PSG hero I think that speak itself how we play vs best team."
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Lots of the post-match discourse is being dominated by Marcus Rashford.
His first-half performance was poor, really poor in fact, but he showed in the second half that he is capable of affecting game at the top level.
It will be really interesting to see what happens with the 27-year-old in the summer when his loan at Aston Villa expires.
Will he want to stake a claim for a place back in the Manchester United team or will he look for a permanent move elsewhere?
Marcus Rashford's performance has caused quite the debate between pundits and on social media this evening. Unai Emery was asked about whether he thinks Villa can turn his loan move into a permanent one.
"It's difficult to plan it now," he said. "He's feeling comfortable, he's feeling better and today he played a fantastic match. We are very happy and the most important thing is that he's happy. We are happy with him and he is happy with us. That's important in the process we have."
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Aston Villa are currently just one Premier League point from a place in next season's Champions League and Unai Emery stressed that a return to this competition is the goal in what remains of this campaign.
"Of course, the most thing now is to get Europe again," he said. "To get Europe is very difficult through the Premier League. The challenge we have now for the last six matches is to try to get Europe and try to get Champions League. In case we don't, Europa League or Conference League."
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What an effort from Unai Emery and Aston Villa to reach this stage of the competition — he spoke to Prime Video after the match.
"I am very proud of everything we did this year in the Champions League," he said. "To get to this level is the next step forward. I want to build with Aston Villa.
"We played two legs here; we competed well in the first one but it was not enough and today we competed better and we were close to getting a close. It was fantastic today with our supporters, the crowd transmitted the energy. But there is still a bit more for us to do to get (to the level)."
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Barcelona have joined Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-finals after defeating Borussia Dortmund 5-3 on aggregate in tonight's other Champions League tie.
Having won the first leg 4-0, the Spanish side saw their advantage cut in half by a pair of goals from Serhou Guirassy at the Westfalenstadion. An own goal by Ramy Bensebaini early in the second half, however, pushed the aggregate lead back to three. Guirassy completed his hat-trick in the 76th minute but it wasn't enough to save Dortmund's European season.
Barcelona will face the winner of Inter vs Bayern Munich in the semi-final. The Serie A champions hold a 2-1 advantage heading into tomorrow's second leg at San Siro.
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With the last question of his post-match interview with Prime Video, Marquinhos was asked if he and his team-mates can win the Champions League.
"We're getting better and better and we're proving that we're such a good team," he said. "We have improved throughout the season but it is going to be such a difficult semi-final which our next focus.
"There is, of course, belief that this team can go all the way and win it."
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Another top-drawer performance from Marquinhos this evening — he spoke to Prime Video after the match.
"We knew it was going to be a difficult game, these Champions League ties are never won in the first leg," he said. "But we have belief, we came out strong and we kept our intensity after they scored those second-half goals.
"We believed until the end that we were going through and we are so happy."
Aston Villa 3-2 PSG (4-5 agg.)
After Aston Villa created just 0.28 worth of expected goals in the first half, it looked like they had no chance of mounting a comeback. They soon proved that wrong in the second half!
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Pacho was very unfortunate to see two of the three Aston Villa goals deflect off him and beat Donnarumma.
The Ecuadorian made amends for both of those goals in style right at the end, getting in the way of Maatsen's last-gasp volley brilliantly after his goalkeeper had been left rooted to the spot.
So often left exposed by the midfielders in front of them, Pacho and Marquinhos played very well at the heart of the PSG defence.
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Despite Paris Saint-Germain's defeat on the night, Ousmane Dembele has been named Player of the Match. The UEFA Technical Observer Group said: "He was key to his team's dominance in the first half, dropping between the lines and making penetrative runs in behind as well as being a threat in transition. In the second half, he worked tirelessly for his team, constantly pressing."
After his assist for Nuno Mendes' goal in the 27th minute, Dembele has now been involved in 10 goals (eight goals, two assists) in 12 Champions League matches this season.
That ranks fifth in the competition this season, trailing only Raphinha, Serhou Guirassy, Harry Kane and Robert Lewandowski.
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Look at what making the semi-final means to Marquinhos!
He knows that he has got a really good chance to lift the Champions League trophy on May 31.
