Aston Villa vs Paris Saint-Germain

A place in the Champions League semi-finals is on the line as Aston Villa and Paris Saint-Germain go head-to-head in the return leg of their quarter-final tie at Villa Park. 

Aston Villa bounced back from a 3-1 first-leg loss in Paris with a 3-0 thrashing of Premier League basement boys Southampton to bolster their top-five hopes in their domestic championship, becoming the first time in competition history to see three substitutes get on the scoresheet. Villa’s maiden Champions League campaign hangs by a thread, yet progressing from seven of 12 two-legged European ties after losing the first leg away from home suggests Unai Emery’s men are still in the running for the semi-finals. Furthermore, the Lions boast a favorable home record against French visitors (W3, L1), not to mention their inspiring run of ten wins across their last 12 continental matches at Villa Park (D1, L1). It’s also worth noting that their three most recent European home wins came via multi-goal margins.

In the meantime, Ligue 1 granted Paris Saint-Germain a weekend off to rest and prepare for this fixture as the perennial French champions bid to win an elusive first Champions League title. Despite only narrowly bettering Premier League rivals across their five meetings this season (W3, L2), PSG’s 1-0 win at Liverpool in the previous knockout round halted a four-game losing run on English soil. Yet, they’d be naive to take anything for granted, considering their evenly-balanced quarter-final record in the Champions League (W4, L4). However, they’ve navigated 13 of their 19 two-legged ties after winning the first leg in Paris. That could compensate for their indifferent away record at Europe’s top table since the beginning of the 2023/24 season (W6, D1, L5).