Paris Saint-Germain suffered a 3-2 defeat to Aston Villa on Tuesday but won the quarter-final tie 5-4 on aggregate to reach the Champions League semi-finals.
Meanwhile in Germany, Barcelona booked their place in the final four with a 5-3 aggregate victory against Borussia Dortmund, despite losing 3-1 yesterday at the Signal Iduna Park.
Unai Emery’s men faced a monumental task in Birmingham as they aimed to overturn a 3-1 deficit from the first leg. They started the game with real intent, but suffered an early blow when Achraf Hakimi scored from point-blank range in the 10th minute.
Hopes of a comeback looked almost over for the hosts after Nuno Mendes soon added another goal. However, Villa produced a magnificent response as Youri Tielemans pulled one back with a deflected strike before half-time.
John McGinn levelled the scores after 55 minutes before Ezri Konsa fired into the back of the net after brilliant work by Marcus Rashford.
The Lions pushed for another goal and created several excellent opportunities, but PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma produced a string of outstanding saves to ensure his side leave Villa Park with a 5-4 aggregate win.
PSG have had an excellent 2024-25 campaign under Luis Enrique. They have already wrapped up the Ligue 1 title without losing a single game this campaign, while they have also made it to the French Cup final after beating Dunkerque 4-2 in the semi-final.
They have been completely dominating football in France over the years, but have failed to replicate their domestic success in Europe as they have yet to lift the Champions League trophy.
Barcelona through despite Guirassy’s hat-trick
Barcelona put themselves in a fantastic position for semi-final qualification after putting four unanswered goals against Dortmund in the first leg of the quarter-final.
However, the Bundesliga outfit made an excellent start in the home contest on Tuesday as Serhou Guirassy reduced the deficit with a chipped penalty in the 11th minute.
The 29-year-old added another early in the first-half to ignite hopes of a stunning comeback, before Ramy Bensebaini’s 54th-minute own goal helped settle the visitors’ nerves.
Guirassy completed his hat-trick in the 76th-minute, but couldn’t save Dortmund from crashing out of the European tournament.
