Champions League: Donnarumma the PSG hero at Villa Park in 5-4 aggregate victory

BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND – APRIL 15: Marco Asensio of Aston Villa takes a shot whilst under pressure from Gianluigi Donnarumma of Paris Saint-Germain during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 Quarter Final Second Leg match between Aston Villa FC and Paris Saint-Germain at Villa Park on April 15, 2025 in Birmingham, England. (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images)

Gianluigi Donnarumma was the undisputed hero for Paris Saint-Germain, who squeezed through to the Champions League semi-finals after a 3-2 defeat at Aston Villa.

The tie started in bizarre fashion when the stadium crew at Villa Park accidentally played the Europa League anthem rather than the iconic Champions League tune, prompting a bemused and at times giggly response from the players lined up.

The stage is set… but the anthem is wrong 😅#UCLonPrime pic.twitter.com/G2ESu9KE4m

— Amazon Prime Video Sport (@primevideosport) April 15, 2025

PSG struck first on the counter-attack when Dibu Martinez intercepted a Bradley Barcola cross from the left to stop Ousmane Dembele tapping in, but only pushed it into the path of former Inter full-back Achraf Hakimi.

Nuno Mendes added a second with a very similar move this time down the right with Dembele rolling across for the finish from the edge of the area, in off the inside of the far post. They had a 5-1 aggregate lead and it seemed to be tie over, but Villa had other plans.

Donnarumma was beaten by a deflection, because the Youri Tielemans curler completely wrong-footed the Italian goalkeeper when it struck teammate Willian Pacho.

Donnarumma kept PSG in the competition

However, Donnarumma was alert to rush off his line and smother at the feet of Marcus Rashford using his body from six yards, but John McGinn surged forward from his own half and another deflection off the unfortunate Pacho looped it over the helpless goalkeeper.

When the shots weren’t deflected, Donnarumma was decisive, making a great one-handed save to push the Rashford scorcher away. On the resulting corner, Villa turned the game around, Rashford pulling back from the by-line for Ezri Konsa to sweep through a sea of legs.

Suddenly it was a completely different match, Donnarumma scooping the Tielemans header out from under the bar.

Gianluigi Donnarumma is having a generational game in goal to keep PSG ahead in this tie 😰 pic.twitter.com/Puvd1OV78m

— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) April 15, 2025

Donnarumma also rushed off his line to parry one-on-one from former PSG teammate Marco Asensio, while Ian Maatsen’s volley was charged down at the far post by Pacho, who for once was in the right place at the right time.

An heroic fight back from Aston Villa, but it wasn’t to be against PSG… 😔

🎥 All the key moments here! pic.twitter.com/OPlnbQAJ2b

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 15, 2025

Having recently been named statistically the best goalkeeper in the world, Donnarumma had PSG fans on social media apologising for ever having doubted him after this match.

Aston Villa 3-2 PSG (4-5 agg)

Hakimi 11 (P), Nuno Mendes 28 (P), Tielemans 34 (A), McGinn 55 (A), Konsa 58 (A)

23

44

4

12

76′

2

14

24

67′

7

66′

8

88′

9

76′

27

1

2

5

25

51

8

87

17

29

58′

10

9

3

25

5

26

52

21

66′

41

67′

22

76′

11

76′

6

88′

19

21

3

39

80

9

33

35

24

49

14

58′