Paris St Germain boss Luis Enrique admitted his side would not be intimidated by a hostile atmosphere at Aston Villa as they looked to finish the job in their Champions League quarter-final.
The Ligue 1 champions travel to Birmingham with a 3-1 advantage from last week’s first leg in Paris and are heavy favourites to progress to the last four.
But they will face a sterner test on Tuesday as the Premier League side are unbeaten in 17 games in all competitions on home soil and the atmosphere is expected to be raucous in what is Villa’s biggest home game since they lost to Juventus in the European Cup quarter-final in 1983.
We’re here! 👊#AVFCPSG | #UCL pic.twitter.com/4mmVleGxvK
— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English) April 14, 2025
Enrique said that would not scare his side as they aimed to book their semi-final spot.
“For us, it is always a pleasure to play and compete in a stadium like this, with so much history,” he said.
“We love playing football. Our teams and supporters are accustomed to this. It is going to be a big match, there is certainly no problem with the atmosphere. It is a motivation, more than anything.”
Despite their comfort in the environment, Enrique insisted his side still had work to do.
“The tie isn’t over, it is still open. It is going to be difficult. We are prepared to suffer if necessary to get our aim and win this match,” the Spaniard warned.
“At the end of the match there will be only one team in the semi-final and the other team is out. That is the beauty of the competition.
“Aston Villa are down at the moment but the tie remains very open and both teams know. There is no over-confidence in our side, we have got motivation to overcome the problems Aston Villa can set us and reach our aim of winning the match.
“When people talk about favourites before the match…the road of the Champions League is full of favourites who have been knocked out. We knew we were better and deserved to win in the first leg, but there is a second story. Who is going to win tomorrow?
“We have the advantage, but we don’t speculate about certainties. If Aston Villa are better than us they can overcome us, so we need to show we deserve to be in the semi-final.”
Ousmane Demebele spearheads one of the most frightening attacks in Europe and he is dreaming of being part of the first PSG side to win the Champions League.
We go again 👊#UCL pic.twitter.com/xtvRDKLcfw
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) April 14, 2025
He said: “There is a long way to go to win this competition. What really motivates me is to win silverware with the team and that has always motivated me – to win a first Champions League with PSG would be exceptional.
“But we have a huge match now. We come here to win, we are not going to change the way we play, we won’t try to defend or keep the score as it is.
“We are going to play our game, we are here to win and that is what we are going to do, we hope.”
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