'On the canvas' - PSG boss Luis Enrique pays Aston Villa huge compliment & makes Villa Park atmosphere claim

Paris Saint-Germain manager Luis Enrique has paid Aston Villa a huge compliment following his side’s narrow 5-4 aggregate triumph in the Champions League quarter-finals.

PSG headed to Villa Park as heavy favourites for the tie after securing a 3-1 aggregate lead at the Parc des Princes last Wednesday. Enrique’s men then extended their advantage to four goals by scoring twice in the opening half an hour courtesy of strikes from Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes.

It seemed as if Villa’s fate had been sealed but they remarkably worked their way back into the tie as goals from Youri Tielemans, John McGinn and Ezri Konsa were enough to go 3-2 up on the night. There was then over 30 minutes for Villa to try and source an equaliser on aggregate but PSG dug in to hold on.

Enrique, widely regarded as one of the best managers in Europe and now in charge of one of the favourites for this year’s Champions League, was very impressed by Villa’s determination and refusal to give up.

The Spaniard, formerly of Barcelona, believes Emery’s men caused more threat than any other team has ever managed against his players – at least for a 10-minute period. He also recognises just how much of a difference the Villa Park crowd made.

‘Villa never managed to equalise the tie but for 10 minutes we wondered whether we could keep the ball, if we could get the ball out of midfield or play long,” Enrique admitted during his post-match press conference.

“I don’t think my team has been so dominated by another team in that way, but this opponent has to take risks because they were going out of the competition. They attacked with great intensity and we were playing in front of a great crowd, too.”

Enrique stumped by Villa threat

After going 5-1 up on aggregate, PSG should’ve been utterly out of sight. Villa always believed they could thrust themselves back into the tie, though, as they knew PSG would struggle with their power and physicality.

Enrique typically likes his PSG team to defend with a high line but that wasn’t really an option at times against Villa as Emery set up his team to form a midfield overload. The Parisiens also let complacency creep into their game, something Enrique thinks there’s no excuse for.

“We nearly had Villa on the canvas but we went into a point in the game when it was too easy and maybe we had overconfidence,” Enrique added.

“You can’t do that in this competition and they had nothing to lose, they had to take a risk. They are a very strong team, especially in the air. In every corner they were swinging balls into the box and that’s not our area, we are a small team.

“It was difficult tonight and we ran a lot more than usual in defence. It wasn’t a match made for us, we don’t like to defend like that, we prefer to defend a lot further away from our goal.”