Emery says belief can power comeback at 'fortress' Villa Park

Unai Emery urged his Aston Villa players to "write history" with a memorable comeback victory over Paris Saint-Germain tonight to advance to the semi-finals of the Champions League.

- Ben Fisher

Villa must overturn a two-goal deficit after a first-leg defeat in France and the Villa manager doubled down on his belief that his side can cause a shock, with Emery adamant the "fortress" atmosphere at Villa Park can help his players find a winning formula.

Emery said PSG's 3-1 lead does not alter the task at hand. "I have experiences coming back from results, positively and negatively," he said. "Now it is something different, we want to write here the history with Aston Villa. Last year [we played] in the Conference League and this year in the Champions League and [now] hopefully for a long time in Europe. My experiences before were different... sometimes losing away and winning at home, sometimes losing at home and winning away. More winning than losing... but I had some negative experiences as well."

Emery was on the wrong end of an infamous fightback when Luis Enrique's Barcelona triumphed 6-1 at the Camp Nou against his PSG team in the Champions League in 2017, a humiliating last-16 exit, known as La Remontada ("The Comeback"), given PSG won the first leg 4-0.