By KBC Associate 
Paris Saint-Germain survived a remarkable comeback attempt from Aston Villa to reach the Champions League semi-finals, progressing to the last four despite losing a pulsating quarter-final second leg 3-2 at Villa Park.
Leading 3-1 from the first leg at the Parc des Princes, PSG appeared to have a semi-final place sewn up midway through the first half thanks to goals from Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes.
But Villa, after pulling one back through Youri Tielemans, produced a stirring second-half display, John McGinn and Ezri Konsa each scoring within the space of three minutes to put Unai Emery’s men on the cusp of a miraculous revival.
Despite continually testing the outstanding Gianluigi Donnarumma, Villa could not find the fourth goal they needed for extra time. They emerge from an absorbing tie with tremendous credit, while PSG go on to face either Arsenal or Real Madrid.
Aston Villa v Paris Saint-Germain
PSG needed just 11 minutes to make Villa’s task even more difficult, the visitors receiving a helping hand from Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez, who misjudged Bradley Barcola’s left-wing cross at the end of a rapid counter-attack, turning it straight into the path of the onrushing Hakimi to sweep home.
Villa threatened a response, Morgan Rogers curling narrowly wide, but the tie looked to be all but over in the 27th minute following another breakaway goal from PSG, Nuno Mendes capping it off this time with a superb first touch followed by a sublime bending effort in off the post after excellent work down the right from Ousmane Dembele.
Yet the hosts were given hope out of the blue seven minutes later, Villa receiving a stroke of luck as Tielemans’ effort took a heavy deflection off Willian Pacho to leave a helpless Donnarumma wrong-footed.
There was an element of fortune about Villa’s route back into the tie in the second half, though it was nothing more than they deserved.
Villa were much improved upon the resumption of play and, after Marcus Rashford had forced Donnarumma into a fine close-range save, McGinn left the Italy goalkeeper stricken once more in the 55th minute with a long-range strike that deflected off the hapless Pacho and looped into the top corner.
Donnarumma continued his personal battle with Rashford when he turned over the England forward’s fierce strike. However, the resulting corner saw the man on loan from Manchester United produce a piece of brilliance, as Rashford burst into the box past two PSG players and pulled the ball back for Konsa to send Villa park into raptures with a composed finish.
Bewildered and on the ropes, PSG were grateful again to Donnarumma after he tipped a Tielemans header over, and he frustrated Villa once more to prevent Marco Asensio from levelling the tie.
Asensio, on loan from PSG, looked destined to mark his substitute appearance with a goal when he burst through one-on-one, only to see his eventual shot cannon off Donnarumma’s sizeable frame.
PSG recovered some degree of composure thereafter and Martinez thwarted both Dembele and substitute Desire Doue as they attempted to finally put the tie to bed.
Yet they still needed some last-ditch defending to avoid the extra half hour, Pacho this time getting a crucial touch to keep the ball out as his block stopped Ian Maatsen from volleying Villa level in the tie deep into stoppage time.