Why French Pundit Craves Lamine Yamal, Barcelona Showdown With PSG in UCL Final | OneFootball

Paris Saint-Germain came from behind to beat Aston Villa 3-1 on Wednesday night at Parc des Princes, scoring three unanswered goals to take control of the tie heading into the second leg.

While PSG’s quality eventually shone through, questions could be asked about Unai Emery’s choices as Aston Villa let things slip. The visitors struck first, but Desire Doue equalized just before halftime, shifting the momentum.

From there, it was all PSG. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia gave them the lead early in the second half, and the French side stayed in charge. Nuno Mendes capped it off with a late goal to give PSG a comfortable two-goal cushion.

Meanwhile, in Spain, Barcelona cruised past Borussia Dortmund with a commanding 4-0 win at home, putting themselves in a strong position to reach the semifinals.

Are Barcelona and PSG on a collision course to meet in the final?

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With both PSG and Barcelona delivering statement wins, L’ÉQUIPE de Greg’s Jérôme Alonzo is hoping the two clubs are on a collision course for the Champions League final.

“You know I love stories, and I just want to see Yamal against PSG in the final. That’s it. My answer really comes down to Yamal. The historic rivalry and Yamal. That’s what it is for me.”

“This kid is a pure footballing genius. That goal he scored? The toe-poke. It looks simple. In reality, that’s the only move he could make because he had no time to do anything else.”

“But like that one he scored once—against Real, right? He scores: you’re playing footsie, and suddenly it dies, it hits the post perfectly. I mean, it’s insane. It’s true he hurt us with the French national team. Yeah. But still, I really want to see Yamal against PSG.”

Both teams hold strong leads going into the second leg. If they move on, tough semifinal matchups await—but if they end up meeting in the final, it would be a rematch of last year’s quarterfinal clash, where PSG came from behind to knock out Barcelona.