VILLA AND PSG FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY: MARCO ASENSIO SEEKS REVENGE AGAINST HIS FORMER CLUB

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Paris SG v Aston Villa

April 9th, 2025

Parc des Princes will witness the historically first encounter between Paris Saint-Germain and Aston Villa. This will be only the second Champions League quarter-final between French and English teams in the last eight seasons, after the match between Manchester City and Lyon in the single match of the 2019-20 season (1:3).

PSG eliminated Liverpool in the round of 16 on their way to the quarter-finals, breaking a streak of three consecutive Champions League eliminations against English opponents (against Manchester City in the 2015-16 and 2020-21 seasons and against Manchester United in the 2018-19 season).

Aston Villa must deal with a historical away curse against French opponents. In five matches on French soil so far, the "Villans" have not recorded a single victory (2 draws, 3 losses), which is the most away matches without a win against teams from one country. The last two matches, both under coach Unai Emery, ended in defeats - in Lille in April 2024 (1:2) and in Monaco in January this year (0:1).

Paris Saint-Germain will set an interesting record in Wednesday's quarter-final. Aston Villa will be the fourth different English opponent they will face in this season's Champions League (after Arsenal, Manchester City, and Liverpool). This is jointly the highest number of opponents from one country that a team has played against in a single European Cup/Champions League campaign, along with Leeds United in the 2000-01 season (four Spanish teams) and Real Madrid in the 2023-24 season (four German teams).

The duel on the benches will be a continuation of the long-term rivalry between two legendary Spanish coaches. Unai Emery has won only two of ten matches against Luis Enrique (1 draw, 7 losses), with both victories coming in home matches. The two strategists last met in the memorable 2016-17 season, when Enrique's Barcelona overturned an unfavorable 0:4 deficit from the first match and eliminated Emery's PSG in the Champions League round of 16 (with a 6:1 win in the second leg).

The Parisians can boast one of the youngest teams in the competition. With an average age of the starting lineup at 24 years and 242 days, they have the fifth youngest team in the entire Champions League, and also the youngest of all teams that remain in contention for the trophy in the 2024-25 season.

The match will also offer an interesting clash of playing styles. Aston Villa has created 52% of their chances in the Champions League from the middle third of the pitch (left/middle/right), which is the highest percentage of all teams. At the same time, Unai Emery's team has conceded the fewest chances from the middle third (12).

One of PSG's main offensive weapons is Ousmane Dembélé. The French winger has scored seven goals in his last six Champions League matches, which is one more than in his previous 36 matches in the competition combined (6). Interestingly, six of these seven goals were recorded in away matches.

The key man in the Parisian midfield is Vitinha. The Portuguese midfielder has completed 93% of his passes under high pressure in the Champions League this season (544 out of 586), which is the highest success rate of all midfielders in the competition (min. 100 attempts). The Portuguese also leads the statistics for breakthrough passes in the knockout phase of the current season (77).

A spicy duel awaits Marco Asensio, who will face his former club. Aston Villa's Spanish forward has scored three goals in two Champions League matches (both as a substitute), while in ten matches for PSG in this competition, he never scored. If he were to score in this match as well, the 2024-25 season would be his best season in the Champions League (he currently has three goals).

We thank OPTA for providing the statistical data.

Photo: source XYZ


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