Au revoir, Aston Villa. But if there was a way to exit the Champions League, this was it. An epic, extraordinary effort was in vain and yet valiant and magnificent. They will not join the class of 1982 in tasting European glory, but there was a doomed glory to this. They beat the side Unai Emery declared the favourites to win the Champions League on the night. They threatened a comeback to rival the Remontada Luis Enrique’s Barcelona produced to beat Emery’s Paris Saint-Germain in 2017. Two goals behind on the evening, trailing 5-1 on aggregate, Villa scored three times in response.
Like Bayern Munich before them, Paris Saint-Germain were beaten in Birmingham. But if it was only over 90 minutes, there may be a legacy if the frailties Villa highlighted can be exposed by Arsenal or Real Madrid in the semi-final. They took on PSG’s running machines and rattled them with their relentlessness. A team with 17 wins in their previous 18 games ended up buffeted, relieved there were only three minutes of injury time.
For Villa, a first European Cup run in 42 years ended too soon. They departed rueing the injury-time goal Nuno Mendes scored in Paris and the reflexes of the outstanding Gianluigi Donnarumma showed at Villa Park but cherishing memories of a special night. “We can feel happy, we can feel proud,” said Emery. “In our process, tonight was the highest level we achieved.”
There was Marcus Rashford, playing like a man possessed, his revival accelerated as he tore into PSG. There was John McGinn, powering a fightback in idiosyncratic fashion. There was Youri Tielemans, his terrific season garnished with their first goal. There was Ezri Konsa, slotting in his shot to put Villa 3-2 up, giving them half an hour to score the goal that would earn extra time.
It eluded them. Indeed, the closest they came was courtesy of the man they borrowed from the French capital. PSG have conjured some tragicomic ways to go out of the Champions League in the last decade. Had this been powered by a goal from Marco Asensio, a player they own, it would have been among the most galling. But Donnarumma saved his shot. The hero of Anfield was PSG’s rescuer at Villa Park, eliminating an English club again.