It can be hard for any side to play away from home. Aston Villa found themeslves on the back foot for most of the opening 45 minutes. PSG had more of the ball and forced Emi Martinez into the action, whereas Gianluigi Donnarumma was largely a spectator.
It proved to be John McGinn who initiated the breakthrough for the visitors at the Parc des Princes stadium. Earlier, the midfielder had earned his side a free kick after warding off French players. In a similar show of effort, it was he who charged toward the opposition goal. His pass ended up finding Youri Tielemans via Marcus Rashford. The Belgian played the ball across the goal for a Morgan Rogers tap-in. It was a lovely team goal that started from the Scottish player.
Seemingly, this propelled the hosts to seek out the equalizer, and a truly wonderful strike from Désiré Doué knotted things up at one apiece. Having just made a spectacular save, similar to the reflexes shown against an earlier Nottingham Forest fixture, the Villa number one found himself being scored on by an attempt that no keeper in the world would be able to get a finger to.
Sign of what to expect from Aston Villa
At times it takes a score for things to open up. This showed itself to be the case with more up-and-down attacks from both sides in the final five minutes before the half. Considering both attacks are capable of being consistent threats in the final third, the closure to the half is likely what fans will see more so compared to the larger 40-minute stretch that spectators saw from the whistle.
Part of why the game was at a stalemate was due to Villa staying compact. PSG was visibly frustrated, even playing a ball out for a throw at one point. The hosts did an excellent job of pressing as soon as they lost the ball and making Aston Villa uncomfortable. If AVFC is to hold on to a result in Paris, they will need to play quicker and likely press higher up the pitch themselves in order to make life more uncomfortable for PSG.