Aston Villa agonisingly crash out Champions League

Aston Villa have agonisingly crashed out of the Champions League after a cagey encounter that saw the English giants beat French counterparts Paris Saint-Germain 3-2 at Villa Park.

Aston Villa staged a magnificent comeback, but that wasn’t enough to put them through to the semi-finals on Tuesday.

The Villans disappointingly lost their quarter-final tie 5-4 on aggregate in a Champions League classic to deny Unai Emery’s brave men from moving to the next stage.

Villa went to sleep early in the game to overturn a 3-1 first-leg deficit, allowing Achraf Hakimi to pounce on a mix-up between Emi Martinez and Pau Torres in the 11th-minute.

The visitors seemed to put the game out of reach when Nuno Mendes fired home a well-hit shot just before the half-hour mark as the French champions broke Villa’s press with ease.

Aston Villa’s 3-2 win against PSG was not enough to move them into the semi-finals of the Champions League. They lost on aggregate 5-4 (Image credit: Getty Images)

The home side gained momentum 11 minutes before the break when Youri Tielemans’ shot took a wicked deflection off Willian Pacho to beat Gianluigi Donnarumma.

Emery’s determined side got their second of the night early in the second half when John McGinn got off with a marauding run more than 40 yards with the ball and then curled a beautiful shot, taking another deflection off Pacho, into the top corner.

The atmosphere got charged at Villa Park two minutes later when Ezri Konsa swept the ball into the corner following a brilliant dribbling run from Marcus Rashford.

PSG were rattled – The Parishian were stunned by their English counterparts.

The interventions of some excellent saves from Donnarumma kept Emery’s men away from within touching distance of a historic comeback.

Villa full-back Ian Maatsen nearly snatched an equalizer late into the game but had his shot blocked off the line by Pacho.

Luis Enrique’s men were able to survive the English parade, and PSG survived Villa daring attacks to progress to the semi-finals of the Champions League.