Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Enrique brushed aside talk of his team as favourites to emerge victorious from Wednesday night's Champions League quarter-final tie against Aston Villa.
“People said we had no chance against Liverpool in the last-16 and we won," said Enrique as his players went through their final preparations for the first leg at the Parc des Princes.
"So in my mind there is no such thing as favourites. It's a very open and difficult match for both sides. I know it will be intense.”
The teams go into the first leg enjoying contrasting fortunes.
PSG clinched a fourth successive Ligue 1 crown on Saturday following a 1-0 win over Angers while Aston Villa beat Nottingham Forest 2-1 to move into seventh place and maintain their pursuit of one of the five berths from the English Premier League that leads to next season's Champions League.
Désiré Doué, who scored PSG's winner in the game against Angers to furnish the club with a record 13th top flight title, echoed his boss. "When you reach this stage of the Champions League, it's not about luck. Aston Villa deserve to be here so talking about a favourite isn't the right thing to do.
Though PSG gave been features in European club football's most prestigious tournament since they were taken over by QSI in 2012, they have never won the trophy despite hundreds of millions of euros spent on the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Edinson Cavani, Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappé.
Villa's success dates back to 1982 when the competition, in its European Cup guise, featured the previous season's champions and 31 other teams who had won their domestic leagues.
Seriousness
"We will face this game with seriousness," Doué added. "Villa is a good team with good players. We have to be serious from the kick-off and in the second leg as well."
Apart from the battle on the field, tactical pyrotechnics are expected. Villa boss Unai Emery occupied the PSG bench between 2016 and 2018 but was ditched for his failure to take the side to the latter stages of the Champions League.
PSG's owners have subsequently appointed Thomas Tuchel, Mauricio Pochettino and Christophe Galtier in the quest for Champions League glory.
Villa's strongpoint is their versatility," Enrique explained. "So it's hard to figure out how they're going to play. They can play with a low block and then they bring the ball out of defence brilliantly," he said.
"Their biggest strength is how they attack from the back and reach the second line of attack quickly. It then becomes very hard to contain when teams are breaking from midfield.
"Unai deserves more recognition because he's a great coach with limitless energy," Enrique said. "He probably already knows everything I am planning to do.”
Return
Emery was as complimentary about his fellow Spaniard who won nine trophies during his three years at Barcelona including the Champions League in 2015.
"He’s one of the best coaches in the world and he’s been at that level for a long time," said Emery. "It wasn't only at Barcelona but also with the Spain national team and now he's successful at PSG.
"Other coaches can always learn from what he’s doing," he added. “The PSG players are good at keeping the ball. They are aggressive and intense in each action all over the field."
Villa entertain PSG in the return leg on 15 April and the winner will play Arsenal or holders Real Madrid.
In the first leg of that clash in north London, Arsenal won 3-0. In the nigh's other quarter-final, Inter Milan beat Bayern Munich 2-1.
