PSG vs Aston Villa Matchday Stats Preview
Paris SG and Aston Villa will meet for the first time in European competition, with this just the second UEFA Champions League quarter-final between French and English sides in the last eight campaigns (Manchester City 1-3 Lyon in the only leg in 2019-20).
Paris SG eliminated Liverpool in the last 16 of this season’s UEFA Champions League, after having exited the competition in each of their last three knockout stage meetings with English sides (v Man City in 2015-16 and 2020-21, and Man Utd in 2018-19).
Aston Villa have never won away to a French opponent in European competition (P5 D2 L3); their most away to teams from one nation without winning. The last two have both been defeats under Unai Emery, losing at Lille in April 2024 (1-2) and at Monaco in January this year (0-1).
Aston Villa will be the fourth different English team that Paris SG have faced in the UEFA Champions League this season (also Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool). This is the joint-most opponents from one nation that a team have played against in a single European Cup/Champions League campaign, along with Leeds United in 2000-01 (four Spanish sides) and Real Madrid in 2023-24 (four German sides).
Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has won just two of his 10 games against Luis Enrique as a manager (D1 L7), with both wins coming in home fixtures. Indeed, this will be the first time they’ve faced each other since the 2016-17 campaign, when Luis Enrique’s Barcelona came from 0-4 down in the first leg to eliminate Emery’s Paris SG side in the UEFA Champions League last 16 (6-1 win in the second leg).
Paris SG have the fifth-youngest starting XI on average in the UEFA Champions League this season (24y 242d), and the youngest of any team remaining in the 2024-25 tournament.
52% of Aston Villa’s chances created in the UEFA Champions League this season have come from the middle third of the pitch (left/middle/right); the highest percentage of any side. Meanwhile, Unai Emery’s team have conceded the fewest overall chances from the middle third this term (12).
Ousmane Dembélé has netted seven goals in his last six UEFA Champions League games for Paris SG, one more than in his previous 36 appearances in the competition combined (6). Six of those seven goals have been scored in away matches, however.
Paris SG’s Vitinha has completed 93% of his passes made under high-intensity pressure in the UEFA Champions League this season (544/586); the highest completion rate of any midfielder in the competition (min. 100 attempted). The Portuguese also leads all players for line-breaking passes in the knockout stages of the current tournament (77).
Marco Asensio has scored three goals in two UEFA Champions League appearances for Aston Villa (both as a substitute), after failing to score in 10 games for former club Paris SG in the competition. If he finds the net in this game, 2024-25 would be his best ever return in a single Champions League campaign (currently on three).
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