Luis Enrique is regarded as the manager who finally transformed Paris Saint-Germain from a group of individuals into a team but that process, changing the DNA to use his words, has not prohibited players from expressing themselves. For Exhibit A, see Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s preposterous strike, a flash of lightning that helped to secure for PSG a deserved advantage heading into the second leg of this quarter-final.
Exhibit B was a beauty, too, Désiré Doué cracking a rasping strike in off the woodwork after Morgan Rogers gave Villa a shock first-half lead. The killer goal, for both teams, came in stoppage time, Nuno Mendes making it 3-1. By the end it was 29 shots to seven and tempting to wonder quite how many full-backs Unai Emery would require to cage PSG’s ravenous front three of Kvaratskhelia, Ousmane Dembélé and Doué, the prodigious teenager. Frankly it is hard to envisage PSG not scoring at Villa Park.
Written by Ben Fisher at the Parc des Princes
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/apr/09/paris-saint-germain-aston-villa-champions-league-match-report under the title “Late Nuno Mendes strike caps PSG comeback to hurt Aston Villa hopes”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
