Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s stunning wonder goal overshadowed a brilliant curling shot from teammate Desire Doue as Paris Saint-Germain triumphed 3-1 over Aston Villa in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal on Wednesday.
After Morgan Rogers gave Villa the lead in the 35th minute, Doue quickly leveled the score just four minutes later with his 12th goal of the season.
Kvaratskhelia put PSG ahead just after the break, and Nuno Mendes sealed the win in stoppage time with a clinical finish, leaving Villa fans, including Britain’s Prince William, dejected at the Parc des Princes.
"I think the result reflects the difference between us and them,” said PSG coach Luis Enrique, whose side has greater firepower and showed more of a threat going forward. "Our objective is to keep the ball and be aggressive in attack.”
Kvaratskhelia’s goal was the highlight of the night.
He sprinted down the left from just over the halfway line and then mesmerized Villa's defense with a flurry of quick feet and superb balance.
Advancing at pace with the ball seemingly glued to his right foot, he then wrong-footed defender Axel Disasi with a sudden change of direction, before rolling the ball onto his left foot in one smooth motion and blasting an unstoppable shot over the head of goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.
"For a coach like me, it’s so great to have a player like him, with his mentality. He scored a brilliant goal,” Luis Enrique said about Kvaratskhelia. "We tried to sign him last summer, and it didn’t work out. We signed him (in January) when we didn’t really expect to. He’s got everything to be part of our project.”
The return leg is next Tuesday.
In Wednesday’s other game, five-time champion Barcelona crushed Borussia Dortmund 4-0, with veteran striker Robert Lewandowski scoring twice either side of goals from Raphinha and Lamine Yamal.
Kvaratskhelia belongs in such elite company.
His goal was exactly the kind of effort that earned the flying Georgia winger the nickname "Kvaradona" when he was playing for Napoli, in reference to soccer maestro Diego Maradona – the Italian club’s greatest-ever player – and prompted PSG coach Luis Enrique to spend 70 million euros (then $72 million) on him in the winter transfer window.
Shortly after Kvaratskhelia’s goal, Martinez made a great save low to his right against Achraf Hakimi’s powerful shot as PSG poured forward, looking for a third goal.
Villa was at this stage of the competition for the first time since 1983 and dealt well with early pressure before taking the lead with a well-worked goal.
Bustling captain John McGinn won the ball in midfield and advanced before picking out Marcus Rashford, the forward who scored a stoppage-time winner here for Manchester United six years ago. Rashford fed Youri Tielemans overlapping down the left, and he pinged a cross to the back post, where Rogers was left unmarked to tap in.
The lead was brief as Doue picked up the ball on the left of the penalty area, skipped past two players, and curled the ball into the top right corner.
"He's got everything he needs to become a great player,” Luis Enrique said. "He really doesn’t need much space to dribble.”
Martinez played long balls early on to test PSG's defense, but he was soon called into action with a flying save from Dembele’s angled strike in the eighth minute.
He couldn't do much about the goals that beat him, however, with Nuno Mendes showing a forward's touch when he latched onto Dembele's pass, cut inside a defender, and deftly guided the ball in.
"We’ve watched their last few games and know how deadly and sharp they’ve been,” Rogers said. "They’ve put the world on notice now.”
But Villa coach Unai Emery believes he can still eliminate the club he coached from 2016-18.
"I believe we will win next week," he said. "Villa Park is our home."
