- Aston Villa left themselves with too much to do after a tricky first half at home
- They almost came back from 5-1 down but couldn’t find the equalising goal
- LISTEN NOW: It’s All Kicking Off! Is it fair for Man United or Tottenham to go straight into the Champions League if they win the Europa League?
Wayne Rooney says one factor was responsible for Aston Villa’s difficult first half against Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday night, leading to their Champions League exit.
Unai Emery’s men won 3-2 on the night but lost 5-4 on aggregate and the first half meant the mountain was too big to climb.
First, a mistake from Emiliano Martinez led to Hakimi’s opener before Mendes finished off a counter-attack to make the aggregate score 5-1.
Three Villa goals from Youri Tielemans, John McGinn, and Ezri Konsa since inspired hope of a remarkable comeback, but PSG held onto their lead in a pulsating second half.
Ezri Konsa, Morgan Rogers, and Ian Maatsen all came close, but none could find the goal needed to equalise the score across the two legs.
‘It’s not tactically, you can see a lack of players playing at this level,’ Rooney told Amazon Prime Video Sports at half-time.
Wayne Rooney says a lack of experience caused their nightmare first half against PSG
Three goals from the hosts inspired hope of a magical comeback, but it wasn’t to be
Despite multiple chances, Villa were unable to equalise the tie on aggregate against PSG
‘Villa have to take the game for next year and moving forward as they lack experience at this level.
‘You can press but have to at the right time, force them into positions where they have bodies around.
‘You have really good attacking players at PSG who will punish you.’
He added at full time: ‘They had the belief they could get back in the tie but they ran out of energy.
‘Fantastic effort from all the players, the fans got right behind them, but they just fell short.
‘Before we won the Champions League (at Manchester United), we had a couple of years where we got to the semi-finals where Clarence (Seedorf) and Milan knocked us out.
‘That was really good experience for us, to feel the atmosphere at the San Siro and the pressure of those games.
‘Villa need to take tonight and the previous leg last week for next season because that will really help them.’
Unai Emery’s men beat PSG 3-2 on the night but a 3-1 first-leg defeat meant they went out
Of course, some of Villa’s stars have more experience than others.
Martinez is a World Cup-winning goalkeeper with Argentina, Pau Torres won the Europa League with Villarreal, and Marcus Rashford, also a winner of Europe’s secondary competition, has 37 Champions League outings under his belt.
However, this was their first quarter-final in Europe’s top competition for 42 years.
PSG, meanwhile, are perennial contenders in the latter stages of the Champions League.
Stars such as Gianluigi Donnarumma, Achraf Hakimi, Marquinhos, and Ousmane Dembele have been competing at the elite level for multiple years.
