A special Champions League story could be written at Villa Park on Tuesday night, where Aston Villa aim to complete a captivating comeback against Paris Saint-Germain in the second leg of their quarter-final.
The Ligue 1 champions hop across the English Channel with a 3-1 advantage from the opening battle, but as Unai Emery knows all too well, the Parisiens are prone to a second-leg catastrophe.
Match preview
After showcasing his punditry proficiency alongside Ally McCoist and Rio Ferdinand, His Royal Highness Prince William took his seat at the Parc des Princes, where his beloved Villa side sent the heir to the British throne into raptures through Morgan Rogers's back-post finish.
However, on an evening where embryonic attacking talents stole the show in the French capital, two exceptional strikes from Desire Doue and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia turned the first leg on its head, before PSG delivered one final gut punch through Nuno Mendes's 92nd-minute finish.
A 3-1 deficit is still far from insurmountable, but the difference between a one goal and two-goal disadvantage in the Champions League can be night and day, and Aston Villa have been eliminated on each of the previous two occasions where they have lost the first leg of a European knockout match by two or more goals.
The Lions' trip to relegated Southampton at the weekend was also an uncomfortable watch for the opening 70 minutes, before strikes from Ollie Watkins, John McGinn and Donyell Malen propelled Villa to a morale-boosting 3-0 win, one that spared Marco Asensio's blushes after the PSG loanee had two penalties saved by Aaron Ramsdale.
Tuesday's hosts remain in with a shot of qualifying for the 2025-26 Champions League via their Premier League position, and they now return to a ground where they have avoided defeat in each of their last 17 matches across all competitions, one of a few pleasing Villa Park statistics.
Indeed, the Lions have also won each of their last four games on home soil, have scored at least two goals in seven of their last eight in front of their own fans, and Emery has won 11 of his last 13 home matches in European competition. To put it simply, PSG can take nothing for granted.
A side reborn since their disastrous start to the league phase - which even saw them flirt with an early exit from the Champions League - there is now genuine talk of PSG being the favourites for continental glory come the summer, if they can avoid falling back into old habits.
It has been almost exactly eight years since Emery's Parisiens were the victims of the famous Barcelona remontada, and of the seven previous occasions where PSG have won the first leg of a Champions League knockout battle by at least two goals, they have been knocked out in three of them.
No side has ever been eliminated in four UCL knockout ties when winning the first leg by two goals or more, but the feeling around this current PSG outfit is different, as Luis Enrique and Luis Campos have harmonised a young group after the failures of the galacticos era.
Unlike Villa, Les Parisiens have just enjoyed the luxury of a weekend with no domestic football, although they had already wrapped up the 2024-25 Ligue 1 title with six games to spare earlier this month and could still achieve Invincibles status in the top flight.
While Arsenal and Bayern Munich have already subjected PSG to away beatings this season, Enrique's side have now won an outrageous 16 straight road matches across all competitions - including their penalty progression against Liverpool - but the French titans may still be the ones celebrating even if that streak is snapped in the West Midlands.
Team News
Blessed with a near fully-fit squad for the second leg, Villa's only injury concern at the minute is Jamaican attacker Leon Bailey, who is actually on the cusp of returning to the squad but will not come into contention for a starting berth.
With an embarrassment of riches at his disposal, Emery unsurprisingly made a handful of alterations against Southampton at the weekend, but all three of his scorers - Watkins, McGinn and Malen - were introduced as second-half substitutes.
Watkins was also overlooked for a start in the first leg, but the England international has surely played his way into the first XI for Tuesday's tie, where Pau Torres, Lucas Digne and Boubacar Kamara should also regain their rightful places in the lineup.
Likewise, PSG boss Enrique will also come into the midweek battle with a full complement of options to pick from, including skipper Marquinhos, back from the suspension that ruled him out of the first leg.
Lucas Beraldo should be the unfortunate soul to drop out for the returning captain, but it should otherwise be as you were for the French champions, whose chief attacking threat Ousmane Dembele has put himself firmly into Ballon d'Or contention with 42 goal contributions from 41 games in 2024-25.
Further back, midfield metronome Vitinha completed a staggering 148 passes in the first leg, the most by a PSG player on record in a Champions League match and the second-highest in a knockout game after Xavi's 161 for Barcelona against Chelsea in 2012.
Aston Villa possible starting lineup:
Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne; Kamara, Tielemans; Rogers, McGinn, Rashford; Watkins
Paris Saint-Germain possible starting lineup:
Donnarumma; Hakimi, Marquinhos, Pacho, Mendes; Ruiz, Vitinha, Neves; Doue, Dembele, Kvaratskhelia
We say: Aston Villa 2-2 Paris Saint-Germain (PSG win 5-3 on aggregate)
Expect fireworks to fly at what will be a boisterous Villa Park on Tuesday night, where PSG should witness the best of English atmospheres on Champions League nights and also the best of Aston Villa on the offensive front.
However, as Emery's men go all out for the comeback, they will be simultaneously playing into their visitors' hands, and Enrique's lightning attack can bite back just as hard to set up a tantalising semi-final with either Arsenal or Real Madrid.
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