Ousmane Dembele celebrates scoring PSG's opening goal against Liverpool.
Big threat... Ousmane Dembele celebrates after scoring for PSG st Anfield
It is always a dangerous game to count your chickens and all that, but Aston Villa are firmly on course for a Champions League quarter-final against Paris Saint-Germain, regardless of what Club Brugge may think.
For the record, Villa hosts the Belgians this evening (8pm) leading 3-1 from the first leg. Calamities do happen, but surely not at Villa Park, not this time.
Which leaves Unai Emery and his Villa team pondering how they are going to do what Liverpool couldn’t and halt the French juggernaut.
The not-so-mighty Reds lost 1-0 at Anfield, a result mirroring their 1-0 victory in Paris last week, and after squandering numerous chances to put the tie to bed, were dumped out 4-1 in a penalty shootout.
The new-look Champions League format did for Liverpool as much as their own profligacy in front of goal, paring them against a PSG side that now look the real deal after struggling in the initial league phase, hence what would appear to be an unlikely last-16 pairing.
So the 10/3 joint favourites to win the competition will be formidable last-eight opponents, but in many ways Emery’s team are better equipped to handle the PSG threat than Liverpool.
The attacking trio of Bradley Barcola, goalscorer Ousmane Dembélé and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia were a delight in Paris a week ago, and still did enough last night to keep Liverpool on their toes.
Their electrifying breaks from deep, after Liverpool time and again surrendered midfield possession, was key to their impact, all too often finding space and driving at the home defence.
Villa’s weakest area on the pitch is arguably their defence, although Axel Disasi, Ezri Konsa, Tyrone Mings and Lucas Digne all impressed at Brentford on Saturday. They could even be bolstered by the presence of Matty Cash if Emery is tempted to reinforce his back line.
However, the key to thwarting PSG is control of midfield, and the likes of Boubacar Kamara, Youri Tielemans and John McGinn, with Jacob Ramsey and Morgan Rogers dropping back to help when needed, are unlikely to cede possession in the way Liverpool did, both at Anfield and at the Parc des Princes.
So control midfield and you can greatly nullify the threat posed by Barcola, Dembélé, Kvaratskhelia and the other attacking options that Luis Enrique has at his disposal.
Alison Becker was the Liverpool hero in Paris, admitting after the game that it was the finest display of a long and distinguished career. And while the Brazilian is an outstanding goalkeeper, Villa have their own hero between the sticks in Emi Martinez, who is more than capable of frustrating PSG when called upon.
Of course, to progress Villa need to score goals. There is no doubt that Jhon Duran is a big miss, the young striker sold in January often being Villa’s go-to option during the league phase of the Champions League when he scored three goals in seven games, including a cracker to down the mighty Bayern Munich at Villa Park.
However, since then Ollie Watkins has started to fire again and has enough about him to cause PSG problems, particularly with the dynamic Rogers breaking from deep, Ramsey too.
As for the respective managers, they have history. Emery was the PSG manager when they famously surrendered a 4-0 first-leg lead to lose to Barcelona in 2017. Oh how the Catalan would love to put that blot on his managerial copybook to bed.
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