Nothing about Aston Villa v PSG was ‘unacceptable’; defeat never felt so good
If you had offered Aston Villa fans a spring of 2025 Champions League narrow, heartbreaking quarter-final exit to PSG when Steven Gerrard was sacked for his incompetence in October 2022 with the club facing a relegation battle then they would have a) laughed, b) laughed again and then c) pulled your arm out of its socket in an attempt to make a deal before the outlandish offer was withdrawn.
So as Villa exited Europe, there should be few tears amongst supporters who – exactly three years ago – were staring down the barrel of four straight Premier League defeats including a 4-0 home defeat to Spurs for which Gerrard should have been summarily sacked, and not just for signing Philippe Coutinho and picking Danny Ings.
The journey from there to here has been glorious so there should be no lingering regret from supporters who realise that this is a golden era under a golden manager. They are in the semi-finals of the FA Cup, in a fight for a Champions League place (they are currently Conference League-bound) and watching the best football of many of their lifetimes.
They came to Villa Park with their drums and their voices for what should have been a hiding to nothing. Not because they have a weakness at right-back and not because Emi Martinez’s ego currently tramples all over his competence, but because PSG are the best team in the world right now. They are simply phenomenal. Their only weakness is that their many Champions League ‘nearly’ moments mean that they get really sodding rattled.
A glut of pundits on Amazon Prime broke down PSG’s first-half goals and highlighted every mistake made by Villa, with Clarence Seedorf using the word “unacceptable” while Wayne Rooney talked at length about the need for an “organised press”. But guys, this was Aston Villa v PSG. This was the team seventh in the Premier League table taking on the team whose only previous defeat since the end of November was that ludicrous loss to Liverpool.
PSG have the best three-man midfield in Europe, they have 2025’s best finisher from across Europe and they scored twice in the first half-hour at Villa Park through their full-backs, who can both make strong cases for being the very best in the world. This was – theoretically at least – not a match of equals.
But while the assembled pundits (do you really need four?) bemoaned the lack of Champions League experience in the Villa ranks as they declared the tie pretty much over at half-time due to their incredible naivety, it was PSG’s long history of failure in the competition that was almost their undoing as Youri Tielemans’ goal – which looked like a classic consolation – was followed by strikes from John McGinn and Ezri Konsa as the electric Marcus Rashford made a case for becoming the summer’s greatest £40m bargain.
With a likely 40 minutes remaining and with all the momentum dressed in claret and blue, we were starting to ponder how La Remontada would sound in a Brummie accent. Villa Park was noisy, it was electric, it was expectant. But Gianluigi Donnarumma made a flurry of saves, PSG finally remembered they were the best team in Europe and all Villa’s drive, enthusiasm and underdog energy came to nought.
And when we say ‘nought’ we actually mean ‘pretty much everything’. To reach the Champions League was extraordinary, to cruise through the group stage was phenomenal, but to beat this PSG side at Villa Park and make them desperately stay in the game with a defensive block in the very last seconds was close to miraculous. PSG proved they can still be rattled but Villa had to be brilliant enough to give them a shake.
In less than three years, Aston Villa have been transformed from relegation candidates to the near-conquerors of the likely champions. There were absolutely no losers at Villa Park.