The fireworks that exploded all around the Parc des Princes were a fitting celebration of a Paris St-Germain display of devastating attacking power to outclass Aston Villa.
The pyrotechnics illuminated Paris in the same way Luis Enrique’s thrilling side have lit up the Champions League, and they are now firm favourites to reach the last four after a fully deserved 3-1 win in this quarter-final first leg.
And at the heart of it all were brilliant 19-year-old Desire Doue and Georgian genius Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who scored stunning goals either side of the break to turn the game around after Morgan Rogers had given Villa the lead against the run of play after 35 minutes.
It was testimony to Villa’s fighting spirit, and the goalkeeping of Emiliano Martinez, that it took PSG until deep into injury time for Nuno Mendes to give Luis Enrique’s side the advantage they deserved, a potentially decisive one before the second leg at Villa Park.
PSG’s Qatari owners have long made the Champions League their holy grail, and there is irony in that they now look the most equipped they have ever been to win it after finally moving away from the so-called ‘Bling Bling’ era of lavish free spending in favour of structured team building.
Brazil golden boy Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and – to the greatest fanfare – Lionel Messi all arrived in Paris in search of the big prize, along with others such as Real Madrid’s four-time Champions League winner Sergio Ramos. It brought only more disappointment as Europe’s biggest trophy continued to evade PSG.
The return to common sense rather than chasing instant results has seen PSG acquire new jewels in their crown such as Doue and Kvaratskhelia. They are now an outstanding team, not simply a collection of superstar individuals.
The pair cost £102m (120m euro) but are talents for now and the future, unlike the £200m spent signing Neymar from Barcelona in 2017 and the mega-money given to Messi when he 34.
It even enabled Luis Enrique to keep the talented Bradley Barcola on the bench.
Desire Doue translates to ‘desire gifted’ in English. He has vast reserves of both as Villa found out to their cost ,running them ragged on the flanks, equalising with a sensational curling finish high past a motionless Martinez from 20 yards on an angle.
There are rough edges to be smoothed out on the teenager, who drew the ire of France coach Didier Deschamps when he turned up late for his first day with the national squad at their Clairefontaine base before making his debut against Croatia.
But he is not short of confidence, stepping forward to score the winning penalty against Liverpool in the shootout at Anfield in the last round.
Doue’s idol is Neymar but he is making a name of his own following his £43m (50m euro) arrival from Rennes last summer.
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PSG beat Bayern Munich to Doue’s signature based on last season at Rennes. He scored four goals and had four assists in 31 Ligue 1 appearances with 17 starts last term, but also created 27 chances from open play.
This season he has reached another level, having created the most open play chances per 90 minutes of anyone in Europe’s top five leagues – 2.6 based on having played a minimum of 750 minutes.
This term, among midfielders and forwards, only Ousmane Dembele (13.5) has averaged more progressive ball carries than his 12.4 per 90 minutes in Ligue 1.
Doue has an impressive 22 goal involvements this season at a rate of one every 105.8 minutes, evenly split into 11 goals and 11 assists. Only Dembele (39) and Barcola (33) have contributed to more goals for PSG this season.
He has scored in each of his past four appearances for PSG in all competitions with five goals, and now has 13 goal involvements in his past 12 games, with eight goals and five assists.
Doue is a free spirit in possession with a devastating turn of pace and glorious touch, and has a golden future.
Alongside him, and a constant threat to Villa, was 24-year-old Kvaratskhelia, whose occasionally languid, jinking style cannot disguise the sort of natural gifts that saw him earn the nickname ‘Kvaradona’ when he came to prominence at Diego Maradona’s former club Napoli. There, he tormented Liverpool when Jurgen Klopp’s team were beaten 4-1 in Italy in the Champions League in 2021.
He troubled Matty Cash throughout the first half before the defender was substituted, but his replacement Axel Disasi was outmanoeuvred instantly by the Georgian, twisting and turning the defender before unleashing an unstoppable shot high past Martinez.
Add in Dembele, who is finally fulfilling all that was predicted for him when he was at Barcelona, and PSG currently have claim to be Europe’s best team.
They thrashed Manchester City 4-2 here in the new league table format stage, then recovered from losing at home to a late Liverpool smash-and-grab before winning at Anfield and going through on penalties.
Now, at last, there is real belief that PSG are finally ready to put their years of Champions League suffering behind them and win Europe’s elite trophy.
PSG are a joy to watch under Luis Enrique, who won the Champions League with Barcelona in 2015, and the vast bowl of Parc des Princes is a cauldron of noise and expectation.
There was even a nod to Birmingham-based TV series Peaky Blinders for Villa before kick-off, when a giant tifo emblazoned with a skull wearing a flat cap bearing the message “By Order Of The PSG SG Fans” was unfurled.
PSG delivered in style, running Villa ragged as Unai Emery made an unhappy return to the club where he spent two seasons. Villa gave game chase, but ultimately PSG were too good.
They posted a passing accuracy of 94.5% in this match, their highest on record in a single Champions League game, the fifth highest overall and the second highest in a knockout stage game – all since 2003-04.
PSG had 29 shots to Aston Villa’s seven. It is a sign of their potency that this was the fifth time since the start of last season they have had 20 or more shots than their opponents in a Champions League match, the joint-most of any side with Manchester City.
And Dembele created nine chances against Villa, the most on record (since 2003-04) in a Champions League match for PSG, and the most by a player overall since Joshua Kimmich for Bayern Munich against PSG in April 2021, when he created 10.
In the past 10 seasons, PSG have reach one final – losing to Bayern Munich in 2020 – two semi-finals, two quarter-finals and gone out five times in the last-16 stage of the Champions League.
On this compelling evidence, they may at last be ready to take the final step.
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24 minutes ago
The fireworks that exploded all around the Parc des Princes were a fitting celebration of a Paris St-Germain display of devastating attacking power to outclass Aston Villa.
The pyrotechnics illuminated Paris in the same way Luis Enrique’s thrilling side have lit up the Champions League, and they are now firm favourites to reach the last four after a fully deserved 3-1 win in this quarter-final first leg.
And at the heart of it all were brilliant 19-year-old Desire Doue and Georgian genius Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who scored stunning goals either side of the break to turn the game around after Morgan Rogers had given Villa the lead against the run of play after 35 minutes.
It was testimony to Villa’s fighting spirit, and the goalkeeping of Emiliano Martinez, that it took PSG until deep into injury time for Nuno Mendes to give Luis Enrique’s side the advantage they deserved, a potentially decisive one before the second leg at Villa Park.
PSG’s Qatari owners have long made the Champions League their holy grail, and there is irony in that they now look the most equipped they have ever been to win it after finally moving away from the so-called ‘Bling Bling’ era of lavish free spending in favour of structured team building.
Brazil golden boy Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and – to the greatest fanfare – Lionel Messi all arrived in Paris in search of the big prize, along with others such as Real Madrid’s four-time Champions League winner Sergio Ramos. It brought only more disappointment as Europe’s biggest trophy continued to evade PSG.
The return to common sense rather than chasing instant results has seen PSG acquire new jewels in their crown such as Doue and Kvaratskhelia. They are now an outstanding team, not simply a collection of superstar individuals.
The pair cost £102m (120m euro) but are talents for now and the future, unlike the £200m spent signing Neymar from Barcelona in 2017 and the mega-money given to Messi when he 34.
It even enabled Luis Enrique to keep the talented Bradley Barcola on the bench.
Desire Doue translates to ‘desire gifted’ in English. He has vast reserves of both as Villa found out to their cost ,running them ragged on the flanks, equalising with a sensational curling finish high past a motionless Martinez from 20 yards on an angle.
There are rough edges to be smoothed out on the teenager, who drew the ire of France coach Didier Deschamps when he turned up late for his first day with the national squad at their Clairefontaine base before making his debut against Croatia.
But he is not short of confidence, stepping forward to score the winning penalty against Liverpool in the shootout at Anfield in the last round.
Doue’s idol is Neymar but he is making a name of his own following his £43m (50m euro) arrival from Rennes last summer.
PSG beat Bayern Munich to Doue’s signature based on last season at Rennes. He scored four goals and had four assists in 31 Ligue 1 appearances with 17 starts last term, but also created 27 chances from open play.
This season he has reached another level, having created the most open play chances per 90 minutes of anyone in Europe’s top five leagues – 2.6 based on having played a minimum of 750 minutes.
This term, among midfielders and forwards, only Ousmane Dembele (13.5) has averaged more progressive ball carries than his 12.4 per 90 minutes in Ligue 1.
Doue has an impressive 22 goal involvements this season at a rate of one every 105.8 minutes, evenly split into 11 goals and 11 assists. Only Dembele (39) and Barcola (33) have contributed to more goals for PSG this season.
He has scored in each of his past four appearances for PSG in all competitions with five goals, and now has 13 goal involvements in his past 12 games, with eight goals and five assists.
Doue is a free spirit in possession with a devastating turn of pace and glorious touch, and has a golden future.
Alongside him, and a constant threat to Villa, was 24-year-old Kvaratskhelia, whose occasionally languid, jinking style cannot disguise the sort of natural gifts that saw him earn the nickname ‘Kvaradona’ when he came to prominence at Diego Maradona’s former club Napoli. There, he tormented Liverpool when Jurgen Klopp’s team were beaten 4-1 in Italy in the Champions League in 2021.
He troubled Matty Cash throughout the first half before the defender was substituted, but his replacement Axel Disasi was outmanoeuvred instantly by the Georgian, twisting and turning the defender before unleashing an unstoppable shot high past Martinez.
Add in Dembele, who is finally fulfilling all that was predicted for him when he was at Barcelona, and PSG currently have claim to be Europe’s best team.
They thrashed Manchester City 4-2 here in the new league table format stage, then recovered from losing at home to a late Liverpool smash-and-grab before winning at Anfield and going through on penalties.
Now, at last, there is real belief that PSG are finally ready to put their years of Champions League suffering behind them and win Europe’s elite trophy.
PSG are a joy to watch under Luis Enrique, who won the Champions League with Barcelona in 2015, and the vast bowl of Parc des Princes is a cauldron of noise and expectation.
There was even a nod to Birmingham-based TV series Peaky Blinders for Villa before kick-off, when a giant tifo emblazoned with a skull wearing a flat cap bearing the message “By Order Of The PSG SG Fans” was unfurled.
PSG delivered in style, running Villa ragged as Unai Emery made an unhappy return to the club where he spent two seasons. Villa gave game chase, but ultimately PSG were too good.
They posted a passing accuracy of 94.5% in this match, their highest on record in a single Champions League game, the fifth highest overall and the second highest in a knockout stage game – all since 2003-04.
PSG had 29 shots to Aston Villa’s seven. It is a sign of their potency that this was the fifth time since the start of last season they have had 20 or more shots than their opponents in a Champions League match, the joint-most of any side with Manchester City.
And Dembele created nine chances against Villa, the most on record (since 2003-04) in a Champions League match for PSG, and the most by a player overall since Joshua Kimmich for Bayern Munich against PSG in April 2021, when he created 10.
In the past 10 seasons, PSG have reach one final – losing to Bayern Munich in 2020 – two semi-finals, two quarter-finals and gone out five times in the last-16 stage of the Champions League.
On this compelling evidence, they may at last be ready to take the final step.
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