England’s two remaining Champions League representatives experienced contrasting fortunes in the first legs of their respective quarter-final ties.
Aston Villa face the daunting task of cancelling out a two-goal deficit against a rampant PSG side who had the weekend off, while Arsenal surely can’t have imagined that they would be heading to the Bernabeu with a three-goal cushion on Real Madrid.
To preview both clashes involving Premier League clubs, we’ve compiled some juicy stats for you to sink your teeth into.
Aston Villa (1) v (3) PSG (Tuesday 15 April, 8pm BST)
Unai Emery suffered defeat at the hands of his former club in the first leg (Image credit: Alamy)Nuno Mendes’ late strike in the first leg has left Aston Villa needing to beat PSG by two goals just to force extra time at Villa Park. The bad news: the French champions have only been defeated by such a margin twice in the last 12 months.
The (potentially) good news: PSG have lost by two or more goals on each of their last two trips to England. Les Parisiens went down 2-0 at Arsenal in the league phase of this season’s Champions League and 4-1 at Newcastle in the 2023/24 group stage.
Complete a momentous comeback and Villa will reach their second semi-final in this competition, having previously done so en route to winning the 1981/82 European Cup; PSG, meanwhile, are aiming to take their place in the last four for the third time in five years.
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Real Madrid (0) v (3) Arsenal (Wednesday 16 April, 8pm BST)
Arsenal have never lost to Real Madrid (Image credit: Alamy)Arsenal’s incredible first-leg triumph over the reigning European champions has put them on the cusp of their third Champions League semi-final – and their first since 2009, when they lost an all-English affair to Manchester United.
The Gunners have never held such a commanding first-leg lead in the Champions League era – while the only previous time that Madrid lost a Champions League first leg by three or more goals (4-1 away to Borussia Dortmund in the 2012/13 semis), they also lost on aggregate.
Mikel Arteta and co. will take nothing for granted – three-, and even four-, goal deficits have been overcome in this competition – but Madrid will have to record their biggest second-leg victory in 11 years (since beating Bayern Munich 4-0 to complete a 5-0 aggregate semi-final triumph) if they’re to keep their hopes of retaining the trophy alive.
