Aston Villa fall short against PSG despite incredible fight back | How will Arsenal approach their visit to the Bernabeu?
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Welcome to Back Pages, bringing you everything you need to know about the biggest sports stories making the headlines in the morning's newspapers. I'm Dave Reed and joining me is David Ornstein and Ian Ladyman. Welcome to you both.

Right, let's start with that dramatic, pulsating night at Villa Park where Aston Villa gave it all they had but fell just short. They bowed out of the Champions League 5-4 on aggregate to PSG despite beating them by three goals to two on the night. David, let's come to you first. The Sun back page describes it as heroes and villains. How would you describe that performance from Aston Villa?

Dave, second half in particular, it was heroic. And overall, Aston Villa can be very proud of themselves. They've not been at this stage of the competition for 41 years. And it's their first ever Champions League campaign in its current form. And they did themselves and their club a great deal of credit. Of course, there'll be regrets, the late goal in the Parc des Princes in the first leg and how they performed in the first half tonight.

that's where it's really got away from them. But even then they had chances with the cons ahead of, for example, to have taken this to extra time and maybe gone on and won it. And this is an incredibly good PSG team. The talent in that side is absolutely remarkable. They may live to regret the decision to take Marcus Rashford off.

He was absolutely flying. And maybe you add to him with Asensio and Watkins. But the way they made their fans believe in that second half, the way that they went toe-to-toe and had all that momentum, it made for one of the most memorable Champions League nights in quite some time. And they've really got to refocus now, Villa.

and get themselves back on track. Some tough league games starting against Newcastle on Saturday. They play Manchester City. They've got a cup semi-final, of course. The FA Cup presents a chance of silverware this season and an attempt to re-qualify for the Champions League through the league. They're not too far away points-wise. So a lot still to play for, but what a campaign. They did brilliant in the initial group stage, fantastic in the knockouts, and they've just come up short, but...

For a team lacking in experience at this level, they can leave with their heads held high. Yeah, the Guardian back page so close to a miracle is their headline. The picture is Uri Tillemans, but I just want to touch on Marcus Rashford there, David. You mentioned him there. And Ian, what did you make of particularly the second half performance of Marcus Rashford against PSG?

Yeah, I mean, Marcus would tell you that he's a big game player. He just hasn't shown it enough in recent times. And tonight was a real...

A flashback, in a way, to what we used to see from Marcus Rashford more regularly. And that's the challenge for him. I've said this before. I think I've said it on this programme. That is a challenge for Marcus now, is to do that regularly and produce regularly. And if he does that, then he will have clubs knocking on his door this summer. I firmly believe he won't go back to Manchester United unless there's absolutely nowhere else to go. I don't think there's a future there for him under Ruben Amorim. But there should be a future for him at other clubs,

if he can produce that level of performance. I think it will be a stretch for Villa to take him. I think Villa's issues with the Premier League's fair play, financial fair play rules are well known. I think they're pretty close to their ceiling. So if they're going to make Marcus their big signing of the summer, then they're going to have to be absolutely convinced that he's the one

And if he produces, like he did tonight, between now and the end of the season, then he's got an opportunity to make them think. But it was impressive. They were impressive in the second half. I was in Paris last week, and I must admit...

when PSG scored their third goal in added time. I did think that was it for Villa. I thought that mountain would be too high for them to climb. I thought it took the jeopardy out of tonight's game, but I was absolutely wrong. That was a magnificent second-half performance and it just shows again the importance in football and in sport of psychology. Not so much the first goal that Villa scored, but the second goal. The first goal they got in the second half, absolutely.

Absolutely lit a flame under Unai Emery's team and put the fear of God into PSG. And you then saw two completely different teams playing completely differently to how they had in the first time. That is the beauty of knockout football at this stage.

Yeah, the Telegraph leads with crown and out. Obviously, Prince William was very much on the TV cameras at the game at Villa Park and the Times as well. Villa go down fighting that picture of Unai Emery, frustrated on the touchline. I guess, David, is it Emery's job now to channel that?

that frustration in his players because they've proven that they can compete at that level in the Champions League and now they've got to channel it to try and not only get back there through the league but there's an opportunity in the FA Cup too.

First of all, Dave, they've got extremely ambitious owners in Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris. They're very wealthy men. They want to pump more money into Aston Villa. It's difficult with the profitability and sustainability rules as we've seen. But they want to take this club to become sort of regular players.

qualifiers for the Champions League, competing at the top table of domestic and European football. And in Unai Emery, they've entrusted one of Europe's top coaches to do that. The way he has connected with the fan base, galvanized the squad, they've done well in the transfer market on the whole, means they're well on the way to getting there. He's got extremely high standards. You can see it was agonizing for him, even when that

ball was in the corner at the end and he was urging them to get it back in play he was living and breathing every moment of it we've seen him sort of reinvent himself in english football post arsenal where it was a difficult experience but even then he got them to a europa league final and and he's a master of european competition uh it's just a shame that two of his bleakest nights have come at the hands of luis enrique uh he must be sick of the sight of him um

But he is more than capable of rallying these troops. There's a huge amount of quality in that squad. They had a good January transfer window that's allowed them to sort of have a second wind in this campaign. And there is a huge amount to play for. But I think going forward, they need to probably invest a bit again. I'm sure they will in the summer. The squad will be pruned somewhat. They'll learn from tonight. So as painful as it is, it's an invaluable experience.

And they'll want to establish themselves at this level. So nights like these with that incredible Villa Park atmosphere are going to be replicated. And it would be good to see because they are a sort of bastion of English football. They've got it within them. And it is Unai Emery's job to deliver that. He's been given a huge amount of power by those owners. He's in control of pretty much everything they've built around him, with him.

And let's see what he can do in the years ahead. He signed a new contract not long ago, so he's here to stay. And it's exciting times for Villa, despite the disappointment of tonight. And Ian, football has been described and footballers have been described as robotic in the last couple of weeks.

Maybe a little bit boring, but that game tonight was beautifully chaotic. And for PSG, a lot of people have been talking about them as one of the favourites alongside Barcelona for the Champions League. But looking at them tonight, you would feel, or certainly their opponents in the semi-final, whoever that may be, whether it's Arsenal or Real Madrid, you would feel that they would be looking at that PSG team and thinking, we can get at them.

Yeah, I think beautifully chaotic is a brilliant way to describe what we saw tonight. And actually what we've seen quite a bit since Gary Neville made that comment after what was admittedly a dreadful Manchester derby. But yeah, I'll tell you what I was thinking tonight. I'll tell you a couple of things just to go back to what David was saying, is that the disappointment that Villa will feel will be, I think...

I think will be doubled by the fact that it looks as though it may well be Arsenal in the semi-final and it would have been Arsenal in the semi-final and maybe if they can get through a big game tomorrow night in Madrid. And Villa would have had nothing to fear, absolutely nothing to fear against another Premier League club

who they've beaten before. So that will double their disappointment. In terms of what you were talking about with PSG, I would imagine that Mikel Arteta and his Arsenal players would have watched that game in their hotel room in Madrid tonight. And it would have underlined two things that they probably already knew. The first...

is that no two-leg game is ever over. No two-leg tie is ever over. They may have a handsome lead from their first leg against Madrid last week, but tonight has shown what can happen and how a goal can change a game. That's the first thing. The second thing is if they do get past Madrid, as you touched upon there,

they'll look at PSG and think, ah, OK, so, yeah, we know what they do when they have the ball, but let's look, what about when they don't? What about when they get put under a bit of pressure? What about when they've got to turn around and face their own goal? And they will look at that and think, right, there's opportunity for us there. And I do think one of the things about PSG, which remains interesting, some people, you know, deny this, but I think there is a grain of truth in it, in that the French league...

is not as competitive and not as challenging for PSG as, for example, the Premier League probably is for a team like Aston Villa or for Arsenal. And I don't think that PSG get put under the pump enough...

in their domestic league. And when they get to occasions like tonight, I think sometimes a little bit of the calmness that you need, a little bit of the kind of mental stillness that you need in those situations to calm a game down, to calm yourself down, I think they find it hard to locate it. So, yeah, if Arsenal can get through...

tomorrow night, opportunity knocks in the semi-final for sure. Let's talk about Arsenal as promised then. They go into the second leg of their quarter-final in the Champions League against Real Madrid, leading by three goals to nil. And Sam Dean writes in The Telegraph that Arsenal and Mikel Arteta's players know that they are going to be facing so much more than 11 footballers in white shirts. They must also defeat a mystique and an aura.

that has defined Madrid's unmatched success in Europe's Premier Club competition. He goes on to say that supporters often describe it as the Bernabeu's dark magic. David, is Mikel Arteta well aware of this dark magic and how does he overcome it?

He is going to be well aware of it. So will his squad. We haven't heard about anything else over the last week apart from potential comebacks, remontada and the like. This Black Magic story in Sam's piece is really interesting about the spirit of Juanito. I think they call it a former striker who died in a road accident and was famous for starring in comebacks for

Real Madrid and he allegedly produced a list of sort of 10 instructions to give to teammates on how to do it such as talking about it from the moment they get on the bus after the first leg defeat intimidating their opponents in the tunnel getting the crowd on side committing the first foul etc so we can expect all of them possibly tomorrow night we've already had the first one with them talking about it since the moment they got on the bus and

And Arsenal will be sort of well aware, but it doesn't mean they're going to be able to stop it because there've been some really special comebacks by Real Madrid goals in quick succession late in matches against Bayern Munich, Man City, Chelsea and others. And that atmosphere, I'm going to be there tomorrow night, will be absolutely electric. The roof will be shut by the sounds of it. People have been saying, you know, they're going to come out of a different, they're not going to come out of the same tunnel as Arsenal. They're going to come down from heaven. There's all sorts of,

divine inspiration going on. But the bottom line is Arsenal have an amazing advantage beyond their wildest dreams from the first leg. And it puts them in a fantastic position. They're the Premier League's best defence. And if it goes to plan from their perspective, they should come through. They're a dangerous attacking side themselves.

But it's not done yet and I don't think anyone thinks it is. So it should be a brilliant clash. It certainly should be. Jude Bellingham also talked to the media and he talked about that word remontada, comeback in Spanish. He said he's been watching TikTok montages of comebacks from Real Madrid. So we know what he's been doing in the build-up.

Backpage also talk about belly's going to get you, where he mentioned that it felt almost nailed on that Real Madrid were going to come back. Ian, it almost feels like the game's already underway. The game started at the final whistle at the Emirates. Real Madrid know how to do this game and they've already started those mind games.

Yes, the game starts in the press conference, as Jose Mourinho has said and indeed shown us many times over the years. I must admit, I've been doing this job a long time. I've heard a lot of things I've never heard. I've never heard something like a football team coming down from heaven.

before a game before. It's a great line. I suppose it's Arsenal's job to send them straight down to hell, isn't it? And Arsenal simply, I know it's a cliche, but I'm not going to apologise for it. Arsenal just need to play the game, play the opponent, don't play the occasion. These are experienced players,

played in big games before, they've played in European Championship finals before, huge Premier League games. They've been here before. Yes, Real Madrid can do. I've been at the Bernabeu just like David has. I've seen some of those comebacks. I was there last year when they did it to Bayern. I've seen them do it to Manchester City. They have done it before. But if Arsenal score a goal...

If Arsenal score a goal, then it sounds obvious, but that changes an awful lot, doesn't it? Because that makes that mountain even higher for Real Madrid. Arsenal will be concentrating on the fact that this is not a classically...

A perfect Real Madrid team by any stretch of the imagination. They showed that last week. There is talent within it. They've got goals within it, but they've also got streaks of indiscipline within it. Interesting to hear Jude talk today so passionately and enthusiastically and so optimistically. I think probably the first thing that Jude himself will need to do at the start of the game tomorrow night is to keep his own discipline in terms of his performance

positionally as much as anything because he can kind of try and win games on his own when they're like this. So there are things there that Arsenal will look to exploit when it comes to playing the opponent and not the occasion. Look, Real Madrid score in the first five minutes and it's all on, isn't it? Everybody knows that. Then it's all on. But if Arsenal get a foothold in the game, which they are perfectly capable of doing, take the confidence from last week, be positive,

block out all that noise, all the talk, forget about the press conference stuff, play the game, then I think they'll be in the semi-final. Well, if it's anything like the game we had at Villa Park, we should be in for a treat. Let's move on and talk about the future of Andoni Arreola at Bournemouth. He's still got a year left on his contract. Bournemouth...

We know we'd like to extend it, but you've talked, David, about a potential move in the summer for Andonio Raiola. And also it's been written about by Mike McGraw in The Telegraph. Important to point out, actually, that there is no vacancy at Tottenham. So what do we think the future holds for Andonio Raiola? He's impressed a lot of people within the game this season.

Yeah, definitely. I think there's a very good chance that there will be a change at Spurs in the summer if you look at how things have gone this season. And that's why Iriola, along with the likes of Marco Silva and Thomas Frank, maybe even Oliver Glasner, have been linked with that potential vacancy. But Iriola could be going into Europe with Bournemouth at this rate. He's done fantastically since he joined Liverpool.

He had a contract extension, I think it was last summer, but yeah, it's one more year to go after this season. And so Bournemouth, from conversations I've had around the club, are really optimistic that he'll stay this summer, that he wants to be part of it. He's a Basque coach and the Basque coaches tend to think very carefully about these decisions and tend to make pretty good moves.

even if he goes into his final year, they're quite optimistic that he could yet renew and be part of this project. You've seen the amazing training ground they've opened. You've seen the stadium plans. They want to double their capacity. You've seen the recruitment on top players who are now wanted by many other clubs.

And it's been written by Sammy Mockbell, another top journalist alongside Mike, who says that Bill Foley, the US owner, is going to be coming over for the Crystal Palace match at the weekend and talks face to face about a new contract. It might be that Iriola is not ready for the step up to the Tottenham level just yet or some of the biggest clubs that he's been linked with recently.

like Real Madrid. But I'm sure that time is coming based on what we've seen so far and Bournemouth will hope to have a little bit more of him yet. There is a good feeling about that down there by the sounds of it. There seems to be a little bit of uncertainty at Newcastle at the moment about whether Eddie Howe might be able to return to the dugout before the end of the season. Jason Tindall has spoken and said they're taking it game by game on a day-by-day basis as to whether he'll return. And he'll only come back if he's 100% ready to

to lead the team. Ian, how much would this affect Newcastle and their running and the real thing that they're playing for for next season is Champions League football? How much of an effect would this have if Eddie Howe is missing for the rest of the season?

There's no point hiding from it. It would affect them hugely. I remember being at Bournemouth once, once waiting to interview Eddie when he was manager at Bournemouth. And I was there early and was allowed to spend 20 minutes, half an hour watching him coach, watching the team train. And he really is the,

stereotypical boots on the grass football coach Eddie he has his fingerprints on absolutely everything he stands in the middle of that training pitch with his whistle in his mouth and his clipboard in his hand that is the way he does it they will miss him they will absolutely miss him of course they will

However, and I thought what was interesting when you showed a clip from the Jason Tyndall press conference earlier when Jason said that there'd been minimal contact, that was his quote, minimal contact between himself and Eddie at the moment in the hospital, which I think suggests just how poorly Eddie has been. We believe he is doing well, but he clearly has been very, very poorly. And Tyndall was also right when he said that he can't come back until he's absolutely ready.

The flip side of it is the benefit that you get from their relationship. How long Tindall and Howe have been together. A couple of decades since they were literally shaking tins to try and keep Bournemouth from the banks back in the day, all the way through now at Newcastle. Those two, I do think,

They are their mates. They work brilliantly together. They are one of those almost unbreakable manager and assistant manager partnerships. And all of that intuitive knowledge, all of that unspoken understanding, all of that intelligence, all of that knowledge of what the other person thinks and wants will absolutely come into play now.

as Jason tries to lead Newcastle towards the end of the season. It is an absolutely massive blow for Eddie not to be around at the moment for Newcastle, but...

If you were going to want one assistant manager, I think, to step up, to step in, then it would be this one, I think, given the depth and the nature and the longevity of their relationship. I guess the other side of that, David, is that Newcastle are kind of chugging along almost in autopilot at the moment. Five wins on the spin, including obviously the Carabao Cup final. I'm not kind of trying to reduce the role that Eddie Howe can play if he's in the dugout, but...

It can't be a better situation for them, I guess, for Jason Tindall to be taking over when things are going so well. Yeah, they've got momentum. They're going for six on the trot. And that performance against Manchester United shows that they kind of tick over quite nicely, irrespective of how being on the touchline. And it's testament to the work Howe has done to build such an impressive team.

it's a critical period for them. I mean, tomorrow night, if they avoid defeat, they go into third and they're in pole position then to qualify for the Champions League. This is their game in hand. But these weeks ahead are absolutely vital for them, their finances, their standing, their

under the new ownership. And without him, we can't get away from that loss. But I just think the quality there, the experience they've built and the position they're in in the league, that means that, you know, with somebody who knows the way training works so well and preparation and guiding the team through matches as Jason Tindall does, that they will probably be OK. And I think they're strong favourites now to qualify for the Champions League with or without Eddie Howe.

Yeah, and we continue to wish Eddie Howe well in his recovery as well. Newcastle taking on Crystal Palace on Wednesday night. You can see live coverage of that from 7 o'clock, Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports main event as well. David and Ian, thank you very much for your time on Back Pages tonight.