Marco Asensio at Club Brugge vs Aston Villa
Marco Asensio has impressed for Aston Villa domestically and in Europe
Paris Saint-Germain's victory over Liverpool in the Champions League has left some Aston Villa fans wondering if they might be without Marco Asensio should Unai Emery's sisde also progress to the quarter-finals, but they're in luck.
Spanish international Asensio joined Villa on loan from PSG in February and has made a fast start. He has scored five times in seven matches, with one of those goals putting his team in pole position to get past Club Brugge in Europe.
If they are able to protect their 3-1 advantage, a meeting with Asensio's parent club will follow. PSG needed penalties to get past Liverpool in the round of 16, with Gianluigi Donnarumma their hero thanks to two saves in a 4-1 shootout win.
Asensio's fellow loanees Axel Disasi and Marcus Rashford are unable to face their parent clubs in the Premier League, with Disasi sitting out a victory over Chelsea and Rashford due to miss a final day meeting with Manchester United. It's a different story for Asensio, though, with the former Real Madrid star allowed to go up against Les Parisiens.
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Back in 2014, UEFA issued a statement confirming its rules on players going up against their former clubs. "Both the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Disciplinary Regulations contain clear provisions which strictly forbid any club to exert, or attempt to exert, any influence whatsoever over the players that another club may (or may not) field in a match," it read.
"It follows that any provision in a private contract between clubs which might function in such a way as to influence who a club fields in a match is null, void and unenforceable so far as UEFA is concerned. Furthermore, any attempt to enforce such a provision would be a clear violation of both the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Disciplinary Regulations and would therefore be sanctioned accordingly."
At the time, questions were being asked as to whether Thibaut Courtois - on loan at Atletico Madrid - would be able to feature against parent club Chelsea. The Belgian did indeed start both legs of the Champions League semi-final against the Blues, with Atleti winning 3-1 on aggregate.
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Philippe Coutinho scoring against Barcelona in the 2019-20 Champions League
Philippe Coutinho played and scored for Bayern Munich against parent club Barcelona in the 2019-20 Champions League
Were Asensio to play and score against PSG, it wouldn't be the first time a player has done the damage against a parent club in the Champions League. Indeed, it wouldn't even be the first time it has happened at this stage of the competition.
Philippe Coutinho joined Bayern Munich on loan from Barcelona for the 2019-20 season and the two clubs ended up drawn against one another in that season's one-legged quarter-finals. Coutinho came on as a substitute for Serge Gnabry and scored two late goals, helping Bayern run out 8-2 winners.
Villa themselves have been on the other side of a similar situation this term, albeit not one where they conceded to a player they own. Summer signing Samuel Iling-Junior spent the first half of the season on loan at Bologna and played 13 minutes at Villa Park in the league phase as the hosts claimed a 2-0 victory.
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