PSG continued their impressive performance in the UEFA Champions League with an emphatic 3-1 home victory against Aston Villa in the first leg of their quarterfinals clash.
Aston Villa went in front in the 35th minute after Morgan Rogers finished off a superb team move, but the hosts found an immediate equaliser through Desire Doue, who curled an exquisite strike past Emiliano Martinez from range.
PSG turned the game around in the second period and a pair of superb strikes from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Nuno Mendes gave the Ligue 1 champions a deserved two-goal cushion ahead of next week’s meeting at Villa Park.
Speaking after the game, Rio Ferdinand heaped praise on PSG’s wealth of attacking talent and believes Axel Disasi probably wanted to be brought off the field.
Villa head coach Unai Emery opted to bring Matty Cash off in place of Chelsea loanee Disasi at the halfway stage, with the former on a booking after an early foul on Kvaratskhelia.
However, Disasi struggled to keep up with Kvaratskhelia who was voted man of the match.
Disasi was turned inside out as the Georgian lit up the Parc des Princes to give the hosts the lead for the first time on the night in the 49th minute.
Axel DISASI and Khvicha KVARATSKHELIA during the UEFA Champions League 2024/2025, Quarter-final match between Paris Saint-Germain and Aston Villa (Photo by Daniel Derajinski/Icon Sport via Getty Images)
‘Kvaratskhelia is owning the situation and the roll was just nasty. Other than laying him out on the floor, he just eliminates him beautifully. It’s the silkiness,’ ex-Manchester United and England defender Rio Ferdinand said on TNT Sports of PSG’s second goal.
‘This is [Chris] Waddle reincarnated. It’s a wonderful finish with the left foot and it’s probably the only place he scores this goal.
‘He made Disasi look like a centre-back playing out of position at right-back.
‘In the first ten minutes [of him coming on], I looked at Disasi and was thinking: if he could ask to come off right now, he wouldn’t be far off doing it.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia celebrates scoring his team’s second goal against Aston Villa (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)
‘It’s so difficult. They were flying down that side consistently all the time and making it really difficult for him.’
Having eliminated Liverpool from the tournament, PSG are now tipped as the team to beat. Luis Enrique’s men have proven their resilience and togetherness on the biggest stage this season.
Ferdinand believes they are now the favourites to lift the trophy for the first time in their history.
‘As much as we’ve been sitting there, blown away by the goals we saw and the moments of skill and brilliance from the PSG players, I thought what was impressive, if not more, was their ability to really get the ball back, win it back,’ Ferdinand added.
‘They played with an authority there of a team that have won this tournament many times before, but they haven’t.
‘It looks like a team that know how to get the best out of each individual player and really, really dominate opposition players man-to-man but also as a collective.
‘I have them as favourites right now, the way I see it. The way I saw them manhandle Liverpool over two legs and the way I’ve seen them dominate this game here.
‘They absolutely took this tie away from Aston Villa in terms of performance and authority. They’re going into the next game as absolute favourites.’
