BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND – APRIL 15: Gianluigi Donnarumma of Paris Saint-Germain celebrates at full-time following the team’s victory and subsequent progression in 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 Carl Recine/Getty Images)
Italy international Gianluigi Donnarumma is earning praise from all quarters after his extraordinary performance against Aston Villa sent PSG into the Champions League semi-finals.
If PSG hang on they are going to have Gianluigi Donnarumma to thank.
pic.twitter.com/a3Bjuees0R
— Ben Jacobs (@JacobsBen) April 15, 2025
It might seem odd for the goalkeeper to be hailed as the hero after his team fumbled a 2-0 lead, 5-1 on aggregate, to lose 3-1 on the night, but he made at least three absolutely decisive saves to prevent Villa taking the tie to extra time.
Donnarumma, the Italian wall
pic.twitter.com/XLz37m5rna
— Ligue 1 English (@Ligue1_ENG) April 15, 2025
Both the Paris Saint-Germain social media account and the official Ligue 1 account posted images of Donnarumma as a wall, while fans flocked to X in order to publicly apologise for having doubted him before.
Aston Villa had some BIG chances to force extra time v PSG.
Gianluigi Donnarumma said no
#AVFC #UCL #BBCFootball pic.twitter.com/NJeW4XspTh
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) April 15, 2025
“In order to win the Champions League, you need a great goalkeeper, and he proved his worth today,” Marquinhos told Canal+ Foot.
“Pour être champion on a besoin d’un grand gardien, et il montre toujours sa valeur”
Marquinhos ne tarit pas d’éloges sur Gianluigi Donnarumma
#AVLPSG | #UCL pic.twitter.com/SN6btvWm5I
— CANAL+ Foot (@CanalplusFoot) April 15, 2025
It was described as a “generational game” by CBS Sports Golazo.
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
Mockery of UEFA for not naming Donnarumma Man of the Match

Nonetheless, Ousmane Dembele was voted Player of the Match by UEFA’s panel, a decision that was roundly mocked by the Sky Sport Italia studio crew.
“Honestly, Dembele should’ve gone over and handed the trophy to Donnarumma, because the people who voted for this clearly don’t understand a damn thing about football,” said Boban, who has experience in the highest levels of UEFA.
“There is a head of football whose job it is to rule, usually he doesn’t intervene to overturn the decision of the panel, but in this case he probably should’ve done.”
Capello went even further in the Sky Sport Italia studio, insisting UEFA should “identify the three who consulted and made this decision, then ban them from voting again on the MVP. Just throw them out. I don’t know what match they were watching.”
The only reason PSG are still leading.
What a performance from Donnarumma. pic.twitter.com/T7o5ls5Tfy
— Football Tweet
(@Football__Tweet) April 15, 2025
“I’ve known for years how good he is. He’s so big, but he can get to the ball so quickly. In order to reach the semi-final of the Champions League, you need a great goalkeeper, and his saves got us there,” Marquinhos told Sky Sport Italia.
“He is gaining more and more confidence, he saved us again today, we needed a great goalkeeper on Marco Asensio especially, but he made two or three saves to bring the result home.”
Of course, Donnarumma was already decisive in getting PSG to the Champions League quarter-final in the first place, thanks to his heroics in the penalty shoot-out against Liverpool.
One more insane performance by Gigio Donnarumma against a wonderful Aston Villa tonight.
pic.twitter.com/QOnWiIbBW6
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) April 15, 2025
Curiously, that too was on English soil just like in Birmingham this evening, and of course he helped Italy win the EURO 2020 trophy at Wembley Stadium against England.
Sans lui, le PSG aurait rompu.
Gianluigi Donnarumma a sauvé le PSG dans la tempête.
Quel destin.
𝗖’𝗘𝗦𝗧 𝗕𝗘𝗔𝗨
pic.twitter.com/MflFNEbwyi
— Actu Foot (@ActuFoot_) April 15, 2025
Source From: Football Italia
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