Paris Saint-Germain host Aston Villa in the quarter-finals of the Champions League with the first leg of their tie being played at the Parc des Princes tonight.
PSG are in fine form having already secured the Ligue 1 title. That allows them to focus all their efforts of claiming a first Champions League title and Aston Villa will need to be wary of their quality.
Luis Enrique’s side defeated Liverpool in a penalty shootout in the previous round and have only failed to win once in their previous 17 matches across all competitions – a 1-0 loss to Liverpool at home in the last-16 first leg.
Villa, meanwhile, are on a seven-game winning run including beating Club Brugge 6-1 on aggregate in the previous round. Unai Emery’s men come into the match on the back of a 2-1 victory over Nottingham Forest and will have their sights set on a historic win tonight.
Follow all the Champions League action with our live blog below:
Aston Villa early team news
For Aston Villa, PSG loanee Marco Asensio is set to face his old club having score eight goals in 11 appearances for Villa. Leon Bailey is an injury doubt though has been seen in full training and could feature at some point in the game.
But, Ross Barkley will be absent and Emery has to decide who to select in midfield with John McGinn and Boubacar Kamara both fit to start.
Predicted Aston Villa XI: Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Mings, Digne; Kamara, Tielemans; McGinn, Asensio, Rogers; Rashford
PSG early team news
Lee Kang-in is currently sidelined for PSG and the hosts will be without their captain, Marquinhos, for the first leg as he serves a suspension.
Luis Enrique rested his big guns in Nuno Mendes, Joao Neves, Bradley Barcola and Ousmane Dembele for the title winning match against Angers and they are expected to return to the starting line-up.
Predicted PSG XI: Donnarumma; Hakimi, Beraldo, Pacho, Mendes; Neves, Vitinha, Ruiz; Kvaratskhelia, Dembele, Barcola
How can I watch it?
Viewers in the United Kingdom can watch the match live via TNT Sports 1 and discovery+, with coverage from 7.00pm BST. You can purchase a TNT Sports subscription via discovery+ here, for £30.99 per month.
When is PSG vs Aston Villa?
The first leg of the Champions League quarter-final is due to kick off at 8pm BST on Wednesday 9 April at the Parc des Princes in Paris.
PSG vs Aston Villa
The French club are the newly crowned Ligue 1 champions following a 1-0 victory over Angers on Saturday, ably managing to secure the title with six matches left to play.
Villa have impressed in this competition for Unai Emery and hope to keep their fine run going. They defeated Club Brugge 6-1 on aggregate in the last-16 and have secured wins over Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig already in this campaign.
Good afternoon!
Welcome to The Independent’s coverage of tonight’s Champions League action as Aston Villa face Paris Saint-Germain in the quarter-finals.
PSG have wrapped up the Ligue 1 title already this season and are now focusing of winning the Champions League for the first time.
They face a Villa side excelling this year but Unai Emery has a strong record in Europe and will want to impress tonight.
Can Villa beat PSG in their own backyard?
We’ll have all the team news, line-ups and latest updates throughout the evening so stick with us as we build up to kick off at 8pm.
Source: independent.co.uk
