Are PSG really Champions League 'bottlers'? | OneFootball

Aston Villa go into tonight's Champions League quarter-final second leg at home to Paris Saint-Germain with a 3-1 deficit, but potentially with some cause due to PSG's reputation for being 'bottlers' in the competition

But is this true that the Parisians really are famous for throwing away leads in the competition? We decided to look for ourselves...

Naturally, we've limited our dive into the history books for every season in the 'QSI era'. We've also limited our search to games in which PSG have earned a first leg advantage on aggregate, meaning that we're excluding any away goals advantages – losing after what is essentially a draw in the first leg doesn't sound like a proper 'bottling' to us!

In total, Paris Saint-Germain have led in nine Champions League knock-out games in recent seasons with what could be described as an indifferent record overall.

Out of those nine games, PSG have gone into a lead and then still been knocked out on four occasions, while holding on for the other five. It's not quite full on bottling, but there has clearly been a historical weakness perhaps brought on by the weight of expectations and the history of previous famous defeats.

PSG's first elimination after winning in the first leg came in the 2013/14 in circumstances that will please Villa fans.

Laurent Blanc's PSG side defeated José Mourinho's Chelsea 3-1 in Paris before going on to lose 2-0 at Stamford Bridge due to goals by early Eden Hazard replacement André Schürrle and then a late goal by Demba Ba that put the Blues through on away goals.

In similar circumstances, Thomas Tuchel led his side to a 2-0 win at Old Trafford in the 2018/19 seaosn before PSG were once again eliminated on away goals. Marcus Rashford scored a stoppage-time penalty to give Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side an unlikely turnaround.

Of course, PSG probably were at the end of the biggest bottle job in Champions League history when they stunned Barcelona with a 4-0 victory in France during the 2016/17 campaign before inexplicably losing 6-1 in the away leg. A result like that earns a reputation for a long time.

Villa may feel that with the crowd on their side and knowledge of their opponents famous collapses that this could swing in their favour.

However, this is a different PSG who have looked even better without star man Kylian Mbappé this season. Perhaps they can begin to set their own course and get rid of that dreaded tag forever.