It was always going to be a difficult night for Aston Villa. Despite taking the lead, Unai Emery's side fell to a 3-1 loss to Paris Saint-Germain. This puts Villa at a huge disadvantage in this two-legged Champions League tie but they still have the return fixture at home next week. Emery was on the end of a famous comeback when his PSG side surrendered a 4-0 advantage against Luis Enrique's Barcelona. Enrique is now in charge of PSG but it is difficult to see his team throwing away this lead versus Villa.
PSG –Aston Villa Champions League player ratings
Below, we're rating the Aston Villa players on a scale of 1 to 10.
Goalkeeper and defenders
Emiliano Martinez (GK): 4
Boos were coming down from the Parc des Princes whenever Martinez got a touch on the ball. This is due to Martinez regularly provoking Argentina's rivalry with France since his La Albiceleste beat Les Bleus in the final of the 2022 World Cup. He made a great save to deny Khvicha Kvaratskhelia early on but was unconvincing when tested by Desire Doue — who scored PSG's equaliser. Kvaratskhelia then beat Martinez from an impossible angle. The goalkeeper did well to stop an effort from Archraf Hakimi but was fortunate the Moroccan was offside on another occasion. Nuno Mendes sealed the victory after Martinez went to the ground too eagerly.
Matty Cash (RB): 4
Cash had a difficult night up against Kvaratskhelia and Doue who interchanged regularly. The Poland international was booked and taken off at the break but his replacement Axel Disasi struggled too. Kvaratskhelia got past Disasi too easily before scoring PSG's go-ahead goal.
Ezri Konsa (CB): 5
This was a good occasion for Konsa to impress with the England manager Thomas Tuchel watching from the stands. On the whole, Konsa was solid but Mendes got past him too easily before scoring the goal to seal the victory.
Pau Torres (CB): 7
Torres was one of Villa's better defenders with his full-backs having difficult games.
Lucas Digne (LB): 4
It was not a good day for Villa full-backs as Digne had a tough time marking Doue.
Midfielders
Youri Tielemans (CDM): 7
Tielemans got forward very well to provide an excellent low cross to set up Morgan Rogers' goal. Ian Maatsen came on for Tielemans and also got into advanced positions on occasion.
Boubacar Kamara (CDM): 6
Kamara defended well but was fortunate that the referee, Maurizio Mariani, did not deem his challenge on Kvaratskhelia to be a foul.
John McGinn (CAM): 7
McGinn has come a long way from playing for Villa in the Championship to now captaining them in the Champions League. He was involved in the build-up to Rogers' goal — winning the ball and then passing it out wide to Marcus Rashford. Amadou Onana came on for McGinn in the 80th minute.
Forwards
Morgan Rogers (RW): 7
Rogers tapped in to give Villa the lead against the run of play. However, PSG still won the game convincingly. The winger had to do a lot of defending but Doue got past him too easily when scoring PSG's equalizer. Rogers had another chance in the second half but put his effort too close to Gianluigi Donnarumma. In added time he then fired the ball over the bar from a shot on the turn.
Marcus Rashford (CF): 7
Rashford threaded the ball through to Tielemans who assisted Rogers' goal. He was playing as a center-forward but often drifted out onto his favored left side. The Manchester United loanee has been linked with PSG in the past but Villa is his home now. Ollie Watkins came on for Rashford and linked up well with Rogers to set up a chance late on.
Jacob Ramsey (LW): 5
Kept the ball well but was replaced by Marco Asensio — who would have been disappointed not to be starting against his parent club.
Substitutes
- Axel Disasi, 4/10
- Marco Asensio, 6/10
- Ollie Watkins, 7/10
- Ian Maatsen, 7/10
- Amadou Onana, 6/10