Luis Enrique is regarded as the manager who finally transformed Paris Saint-Germain from a group of individuals into a team but that process, changing the DNA to use his words, has not prohibited players from expressing themselves. For Exhibit A, see Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s preposterous strike, a flash of lightning that helped to secure for PSG a deserved advantage heading into the second leg of this quarter-final.
Exhibit B was a beauty, too, Désiré Doué cracking a rasping strike in off the woodwork after Morgan Rogers gave Villa a shock first-half lead. The killer goal, for both teams, came in stoppage time, Nuno Mendes making it 3-1. By the end it was 29 shots to seven and tempting to wonder quite how many full-backs Unai Emery would require to cage PSG’s ravenous front three of Kvaratskhelia, Ousmane Dembélé and Doué, the prodigious teenager. Frankly it is hard to envisage PSG not scoring at Villa Park.
As the flag with which a few fans posed on the Pont d’Iéna, opposite the Eiffel Tower, several hours before kick-off declared, this was Emery in Paris and drama was a given. It is why the Prince of Wales was compelled to be here, with his eldest son in tow. “I want George to experience a night out away from home in a big European competition,” the royal Villa supporter said before kick-off.
And they do not get much bigger than this. Villa’s first quarter-final on this stage since 1983, when they exited to Juventus, had the feel of a big-ticket event. It also represented their first monstrous away tie in the competition this season, a European behemoth in a fitting arena. The PSG ultras in the Auteuil stand unravelled a giant tifo of a flat cap perched on a skull, a nod to the Peaky Blinders as the players emerged. “By order of the Paris SG fans,” read a giant banner in the lower tier, though they seemingly ignored the television show is set in Small Heath, round the corner from Villa’s arch‑rivals Birmingham City.
The L’Équipe front-page headline Viser Juste (aim accurately) spoke to what promised to be an absorbing subplot. Could PSG find a way past Emiliano Martínez, persona non grata in these parts long before travelling to Paris in a cap showing off Argentina’s World Cup triumph against France and a rooster, the national symbol. Had Martínez strayed into coq of the walk territory? The thing with Martínez is he tends to back up his brashness, and the mind games and dark arts usually pay off. His first touch invariably was heavily jeered and the locals took great delight in his first kick smacking the advertising hoardings.
From there PSG assumed control. Martínez made a superb save to thwart Dembélé and the goalkeeper then smothered when Achraf Hakimi made tracks towards the byline. Vitinha sent a shot over. Kvaratskhelia was too hot to handle and Villa shifted to a 5-4-1 out of possession to soak up pressure. PSG appeared comfortable so it was a shock when Villa seized the lead in the 35th minute. Until that point Villa had 23% of possession and their sole shot – from their captain, John McGinn – billowed into the stands.
Then McGinn made a crunching tackle on Mendes a couple of yards inside the Villa half, piled forward and spread play from right to left, locating Marcus Rashford, who was preferred to Ollie Watkins in attack. Rashford spotted Youri Tielemans on the overlap and his ball across the six-yard box was converted by Rogers at the back post. Emery clenched both fists in celebration but kept his arms by his side.
But the game quickly reverted to type. Martínez somehow prevented a Doué shot, via a post, from creeping over the line but what happened next was unstoppable. Doué was undeterred. The 19-year-old drove inside off the left flank, past Rogers, and promptly sent a blistering right-foot strike into the goal off the underside of the crossbar. Doué tested Martínez and spooned another effort over before half-time.
PSG carried on where they left off. The only difference was now it was Axel Disasi, a half-time replacement for the cautioned Matty Cash, who had to live with PSG’s devastating attack. Kvaratskhelia quickly got to work, annihilating Disasi, once of Paris FC, four minutes into the second half. The Georgia forward surged at Disasi, darting infield before ripping in the opposite direction to send the Chelsea loanee stumbling. Kvaratskhelia still had work to do but made light of an awkward angle and blasted a vicious strike inside Martínez’s near post.
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Now this stadium was bouncing. Emery turned to Marco Asensio, who entered to face his parent club, but it was one of those ahead of him in the pecking order who stole the show. Kvaratskhelia nutmegged McGinn and then released Doué, who burned down the left and found Hakimi infield. Martínez made a fine save down to his right. Eventually Mendes made it 3-1 in stoppage time, feinting to fool both Ezri Konsa and Martínez, before chopping inside and finishing in style.
Fresh from clinching Ligue 1 for a fourth successive season, PSG have their eyes on a bigger prize, one which eluded Emery during his time here. On this evidence, it may not for much longer. “We want to make history in Paris,” Luis Enrique said.
