Paris Saint-Germain Survive Second Half Scare to Reach Champions League Semifinal Despite 3-2 loss to Villa | OneFootball

Paris Saint-Germain travelled to Birmingham to face Aston Villa for the second-leg of their Champions League quarterfinal at Villa Park. The Parisians came out victorious 3-1 of the first-leg last week at the Parc des Princes and hold a solid two-goal advantage over their opponents and have a solid option on the qualification to the semifinal.

Luis Enrique and his side did not play this weekend while Villa easily disposed of Southampton. For this game, the Spaniard coach saw the return of his captain, Marquinhos, for this crucial game. Additionally, the former Barcelona coach opted for Barcola over in-form Désiré Doué to composed Paris front three. The rest of the starting XI is the same as the one from last week's home davictory.

Paris Saint-Germain's starting XI: Donnarumma; Pacho, Marquinhos (cap.), Nuno Mendes, Hakimi; Fabian Ruiz, Vitinha, Joao Neves; Barcola, Dembélé, Kvaratskhelia.

Aston Villa vs PSG: Paris onto the semifinal despite 3-2 loss

Paris Saint-Germain survived a second half scare as Aston Villa came back from two goals down to win 3-2 at Villa Park.

Paris Saint-Germain perfectly started the game as Achraf Hakimi fired his side ahead inside 11 minutes. The Morocco international found himself enjoying a mistake from Villa's Martinez, who fumbled a cross, to open the score and extend PSG's aggregate advantage to 4-1.

On a superb counterattack, Nuno Mendes made it 2-0 on the night (28'), scoring his second goal of the tie and his fourth goal of the Champions League campaign. Despite Villa's good game in front of their fans, Paris is proving to be ruthless, making the most of each of their chances.

Less than six minutes later, Youri Tielemans saw his effort be deflected by Pacho into his own goal, reducing their deficit on the night (33').

Less than 10 minutes into the second half of the game, John McGinn tied the game on a superb long range strike, leaving no chance to Donnarumma as the hosts closed the gap on aggregate to 5-3 (55'). Three minutes later, Konsa found himself at the receiving end of Rashford's cross to make it 3-2 on the night for Villa and 5-4 on aggregate (58').

Gianluigi Donnarumma denied Tielemans' header from close range to keep his side ahead with a great save as Villa's pressure on Paris increased dramatically (59').

Paris saw out the game after their second half scare and qualified for the semifinal of the Champions League. The Parisians will face the winner of Arsenal vs Real Madrid on April 29.