by The way Unai Emery tried to explain it, Nuno Mendes’ injury goal at the Princes Parc did not change much. The temptation was to believe that Aston Villa’s task made it twice as difficult, impossible from the difficult to the border. Emery did not agree, both after the defeat against Paris Saint-Germain last week and before the removal.
“Something changes from 2: 1 to 3: 1,” he said. “A lot? No, because we have to win. Now we have to win with another goal.” One more thing? The villa looked at a wonderfully constructed goal in the French capital, but they only had a different shot on the finish and only examined nine details in the PSG box. Now you need two goals and a clean leaf, just to ensure an additional 30 minutes. “If we have additional time, fantastic and when we get a penalty shootout, it could be fantastic,” Emery argued.
The villa has optimism and reasons for it. They confused the expectations of leading the Princes Parc, if only for four minutes. Morgan Rogers, the scorer, then approaches the remaining with confidence. “There is massive faith,” said the wing player. “Most people wrote us off in front of the tie. The first leg, we gave a pretty good report about ourselves. If someone turns around it, it will be us. We don’t say that we will do it, but we’ll do it well.”
This bullity could be founded well. The villa has four clean sheets in five European games this season. Three of them produced Scorelines-2-0, 4-2 and 3: 0-, which would bring the extension or direct progress into the semi-finals. They have already condemned one of the continent’s superpowers to defeat in Villa Park, with Jhon Duran’s spectacular destination for the Bayern Munich disappointment. If the Premier League is contained, you have overcome another, with Manchester City being overrun in December.
And it is a safe assumption that Villa Park will be loud on Tuesday evening. The quarter -finals of the Champions League are often, but especially for clubs that are not used to them. “When we connect with our supporters when we transmit positive energy when we get good things in the field tactically and individually, the supporters help us a lot,” said Emery.
As a former PSG manager, he has painful evidence that you can crack under pressure. A current example came on English soil in a fervent atmosphere against another club that was strangers of the Big Champions League bonds for decades. PSG was grown 4-1 in St. James’ Park last season. The Luis Enrique team now looks a much better team, and the manager is unlikely that it will make the same mistake to use a 4-2-4 formation that briefly occupies its side penalty in the middle of the field.
Emery’s track record shows that he has the habit of making decisions correct. His mastery of the knockout ties was repeatedly detected in the Europa League. In the five cases in which he reached the final, his teams won four times. He knows how to divide a course into a tournament and did it in a hard way after setbacks. In 2014, his Sevilla team lost the first leg of a derby against Real Betis 2-0. They won at home with the same lead and prevailed in punishments. She lost the first stage of the quarter -finals 1-0 against Porto and won a total of 4: 2. They stayed in the final in 2015 and 2016 and both won. His teams also hit the long route: his Villarreal won the 2021 final after a 22-plumb shootout.
If the villa can do the tie enough, you have attackers who can offer a dramatic finale. Marcus Rashford broadcast PSG with a punishment for injuries six years ago. Ollie Watkins was frustrated in the last two games to start on the bench, but he proved to be a super-sub with a flair for the spectacular in the Euro 2024 semi-final against the Netherlands.
Nobody of them makes the villa the favorites. But then you can look deeply into your own story, into the occupation list of the players in the European Cup final of 1982. Bavaria left Paul Breitner and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, which started in the World Cup final a few weeks later. They lost to villa.
Now you are looking back at the outsiders, a team that has left and faster than expected. “It was a surreal appearance for the club and accelerated where we want, but at the same time we know that we are good enough,” said Rogers. “We are here for a certain reason, we deserve to be here, and we used every fight and opportunity this season. You can look and say:” Our name and our club don’t deserve to be here “, but we don’t see it that way.”
And they hope that they will come the final pipe, they will be the unlikely but deserved numbers in the semi -finals.
