Paris Saint-Germain host Aston Villa in the quarter-finals of the Champions League with the first leg of their tie being played at the Parc des Princes tonight.
PSG are in fine form having already secured the Ligue 1 title. That allows them to focus all their efforts of claiming a first Champions League title and Aston Villa will need to be wary of their quality.
Luis Enrique’s side defeated Liverpool in a penalty shootout in the previous round and have only failed to win once in their previous 17 matches across all competitions – a 1-0 loss to Liverpool at home in the last-16 first leg.
Villa, meanwhile, are on a seven-game winning run including beating Club Brugge 6-1 on aggregate in the previous round. Unai Emery’s men come into the match on the back of a 2-1 victory over Nottingham Forest and will have their sights set on a historic win tonight.
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A second meeting
This just the second Uefa Champions League quarter-final between French and English sides in the last eight campaigns.
The first was between Manchester City and Lyon with City winning 1-3 in the only leg in 2019-20.
A first meeting
Paris Saint-Germain and Aston Villa will meet for the first time in European competition.
PSG will be the favourites to win with their home advantage but Villa have won the European Cup previously in their history.
It should be a good contest.
‘Aston Villa look like us’
Luis Enrique also spoke about PSG’s opponents tonight and how he sees similarities between Unai Emery’s team and his won.
He said: “[Unai Emery] is a great coach. Aston Villa are a great team. They have come on in the last two years thanks to Unai Emery.
“They look like us, with lots of versatile players. It’s difficult to know who is going to play, especially after their winter transfer window where they have strengthened in a good way.
“It will be an open and difficult tie for both teams.”
Are PSG favourites?
“In football, there are no such things as favourites.” said PSG head coach Luis Enrique when asked if his side were the favourites to win this quarter-final.
He added: “There are eight teams who are in the quarter-finals because they deserve it.
“We will need to do what we have to do and deserve to win on the field.”
Premier League guaranteed fifth Champions League spot after Arsenal beat Real Madrid
Two additional spots in the Champions League are available to the leagues in the countries with the highest Uefa co-efficients, with countries earning co-efficient points based on how their sides perform.
A win adds two points, while a draw adds one, with all the points earned by each club added up and divided by the number of clubs that league has participating in Europe.
PSG vs Aston Villa Prediction
Aston Villa have been one of the more impressive sides in the competition so far but face a huge step up in level for this quarter-final.
Should Unai Emery’s men come out of this test with a positive outcome they cannot be ruled out of progressing even further in the competition but PSG have more than enough attacking quality to hurt them, especially with such a strong record at home.
PSG 2-0 Aston Villa.
Aston Villa early team news
For Aston Villa, PSG loanee Marco Asensio is set to face his old club having score eight goals in 11 appearances for Villa. Leon Bailey is an injury doubt though has been seen in full training and could feature at some point in the game.
But, Ross Barkley will be absent and Emery has to decide who to select in midfield with John McGinn and Boubacar Kamara both fit to start.
Predicted Aston Villa XI: Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Mings, Digne; Kamara, Tielemans; McGinn, Asensio, Rogers; Rashford
PSG early team news
Lee Kang-in is currently sidelined for PSG and the hosts will be without their captain, Marquinhos, for the first leg as he serves a suspension.
Luis Enrique rested his big guns in Nuno Mendes, Joao Neves, Bradley Barcola and Ousmane Dembele for the title winning match against Angers and they are expected to return to the starting line-up.
Predicted PSG XI: Donnarumma; Hakimi, Beraldo, Pacho, Mendes; Neves, Vitinha, Ruiz; Kvaratskhelia, Dembele, Barcola
How can I watch it?
Viewers in the United Kingdom can watch the match live via TNT Sports 1 and discovery+, with coverage from 7.00pm BST. You can purchase a TNT Sports subscription via discovery+ here, for £30.99 per month.