PSG will host Aston Villa on Wednesday for the first leg of the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals, while the side coached by Luis Enrique come from an exciting weekend since the French giants won the French Ligue1 for the 13th time in their history, six games before the end of the 2024-25 season. Aston Villa, on the other side, will visit PSG in Paris as their Spanish head coach Unai Emery will make his comeback in France, where he was the manager of PSG from 2016 to 2018. The winning side of this tie will face the winner of the other quarterfinal between Arsenal and Real Madrid in the semifinals that will take place on April 29-30 and on May 6-7.
Ligue 1 winners, that are still unbeaten in the French league with 23 wins and five draws in 28 games, are also in contention to win the French Cup as they will face Reims in the final, are now focusing on the Champions League after losing to Borussia Dortmund last season in the semifinal and most notably after losing the 2019-20 final against Bayern Munich. On the other side, Aston Villa are meeting PSG for the first time in their history, the only one of this season’s quarterfinals not to have been played before.
The home team will have to deal with only two absences as Lee Kang-In will miss Wednesday’s clash due to an injury and Brazilian defender Marquinhos will miss Aston Villa’s tie due to a suspension. Here are storylines, how you can watch the match and more:
How to watch PSG vs. Aston Villa and odds
- Date: Wednesday, April 9 | Time: 3 p.m. ET
- Location: Parc de Princes — Paris, France
- Live stream: Paramount+
- Odds: PSG -260; Draw +380; Aston Villa +650
Last meeting
This is the first meeting between PSG and Aston Villa. However, this is PSG’s fifth match against an English side this season, and a third in succession. Beaten 1-0 at home by Liverpool in the round of 16 first leg, they won with the same score at Anfield and ultimately went through 4-1 on penalties before meeting Villa in the quarterfinals.
The road to the quarterfinals
The English side were one of the biggest surprises of the league phase as the side coached by Emery ended up in eighth place with 16 points, managing to qualify directly for the round of 16 where they met Club Brugge (6-1 on aggregate) while PSG struggled much more in the league phase ending up 15th with 13 points in total, also thanks to the last three wins against RB Salzburg, Manchester City and Stuttgart before meeting Brest in the playoffs (10-0 on aggregate) and then Liverpool in the round of 16.
Predicted lineups
PSG XI: Gianluigi Donnarumma; Achraf Hakimi, Lucas Beraldo, Willian Pacho, Nuno Mendes; Joao Neves, Vitinha, Fabian Ruiz; Kvicha Kvaratskhelia, Ousmane Dembele, Bradley Barcola.
Aston Villa XI: Emiliano Martinez; Matty Cash, Ezri Konsa, Tyrone Mings, Lucas Digne; Boubacar Kamara, Youri Tielemans; John McGinn, Marco Asensio, Morgan Rogers; Marcus Rashford.
Player to watch
Ousmane Dembele, PSG — The French winger has taken on more responsibilities this season after the departure of former club star Kylian Mbappe and has scored 24 goals in 20 PSG games in 2025 and already has 21 Ligue 1 goals this season. He has already scored 29 in all competitions in 2024-25, his best record as the last one was 14 for FC Barcelona during the 2018-19 season. In the Champions League, he has scored seven goals in 10 games played and also provided one assist to his teammates, underlining his importance.
Storyline to watch
Will Emery shine against his past? The Spanish head coach has started a new cycle at Aston Villa after some strong years at Sevilla and Villarreal. On Wednesday, he will face his former club he coached from 2016 to 2018 where he won the Ligue 1 title before moving to the Premier League where he took charge of Arsenal, replacing former club iconic manager Arsene Wenger. Winning against PSG would boost his reputation even more as one of the best European managers.
Prediction
The French giants are the leading candidate to qualify for the semifinals and possibly also for the final win of the tournament, but they first need to win on Wednesday. Pick: PSG 3, Aston Villa 1.
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