Villa beaten in Paris | Salah & Van Dijk edge closer to new Liverpool deals | Matic & Onana’s spat
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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 Reid and joining me is Miguel Delaney and Martin Hardy. Welcome to you both. Miguel and Martin, good evening to you both. Let's start with the game in Paris, Aston Villa beaten by three goals to one in the Champions League quarter-final first leg. Miguel, how tough to take is that last goal for Unai Emery's side?

Yeah, I mean, that was it. 2-1, I thought Villa were mostly very distal and it was a very difficult game. And 2-1 was the sort of scoreline you can take back and really give it a go. 3-1, given especially the threat of PSG in the break, it feels like it's more than an extra goal disadvantage. It just kind of further skews the tie. And I have to say, though, it was more than PSG deserved. They were superb tonight.

There is a wider context there, obviously, in the way that... I mean, Villa, they're fighting on three funds with the FA Cup. They've done really well to get this far. And...

also, they're in such a kind of brutal battle for, well, fourth and fifth, you'd say, in the Champions League, given they're 10th in the Premier League, whereas PSG, due to their ownership and the massive advantage they have over the rest of France, have once again kind of just won the league in an absolute counter. And that will make a difference, especially on nights like tonight. But other than in terms of the goals,

they fully maximised that difference they were superb PSG really it wasn't just the way they kind of penned Villa in but also just the individual quality of that attack and the way suddenly they can go from that pressing to this individual inspiration Kvartskalje's goal is one of the best I've seen in the Champions League this season

Yeah, and we saw a couple of crackers last night, so that just shows how good it was. Martin, did Villa do well to even just stay with PSG for the majority of that game, hanging on to their coattails? I think we're looking at the best team in Europe and possibly the best team in the world at the minute. So yes, to have made it within 90 seconds, as Megwell says, of getting that 2-1, they did very well.

but it could and should have been a lot more don't get anybody kiddy that 3-1 was harsh on austin villa 75 possession of psg 29 shots to seven 11 on target two and a good status 58 touches from psg in the aston villa box to nine the other way around nine saves from emmy martinez to one from donna ruma and this real emerging team in psg that are just incredible to watch

Full of quality. The goals kind of characterise that. Due scores a world-class goal. Kovac Scali scores a world-class goal. Then they've got Bertini and Nuno Mendes scores a world-class goal. Bocola, Zaire Emery. They've built this incredible team and Luis Enrique has got them playing complete front foot football. Wide players prepared to take their full-backs on. Aston Villa played most tonight in a very deep 5-4-1 formation just to try and take up some of the space there.

But PSG are relentless and that third goal, if you watch the celebrations from Enrique on the sideline when the goal went in and then when the full-time whistle went, he understood straight away the significance of that third goal and just the fact that it now puts the impetus on the Villa team.

I can't see a game of football when I can't see the return game at Villa Park where PSG don't score. And that means there's a pressure on Aston Villa to score at least three goals to take this tight the extra time. It means you're going to leave gaps and they're so fast in transition, so fast with a forward play. They're clever. They've kind of shaken away from the model they had about two or three years ago, which didn't work well.

They now look the team to beat and probably, I know it's difficult for Villa fans to see the late goal, but probably emerging with a 3-1 defeat is the best they could have hoped for because there was a big gulf between the sides in terms of quality, no matter how much energy and tactical nous there was from Unai Emery. Yeah, the male going with Villa's Euro hopes hanging by a thread. If we rewind to the first half, there was a great moment

where Aston Villa took the lead, Morgan Rodgers, whose stock continues to rise this year, playing under Unai Emery. Can Villa take heart, Miguel, from the way they managed to open up PSG in that one moment?

I have to say, at that point in the game, especially when the goal goes in, you're thinking, this is going to be the sort of performance on which Emery has made his reputation, especially with those four Europa League wins. He is a bit of a specialist for these European ties. He has almost that kind of old Rafa Benitez or Jose Mourinho capacity for coming up for a game plan for an individual game that can react to the opposition and really do a number on them. And for a good 35 minutes, it looked like that was possible. Yeah.

PSG just overwhelmed I suppose given there is a kind of superiority of resources there and talent and the one thing for the second leg though is obviously I mean at 2-1 maybe they could have gone for a similar sort of approach but as Martin said there they have to come out like I mean it's a two goal gap now suddenly I mean to set up in a similar sort of way in a way you maybe would expect from Emery in this sort of game and

They're going to need a bit more. And this is going to be one of his biggest tests in Europe. Because it is something missing in his CV in that sense. He's only had one Champions League run, really, with Villarreal, which was very impressive, given they knocked out Bayern Munich. But they won the first leg there. And in this case, they're 3-1 behind now. They're going to need something very different.

Yeah, the sun, we just saw it a moment ago, bad air day. If Prince William fancies a change of career, I think he'd make an excellent football pundit. I don't know whether you saw his interview pre-game. But Martin, what confidence can you give Aston Villa fans that are looking ahead to the second leg? Can you give them any shred of confidence going into that second leg that there could be something remarkable? I mean, look at the history of PSG in the Champions League.

they have had a tendency to throw things away when things have looked like it was going to go their way. Look, I'm sure we may talk about Arsenal as well. Both games are at half-time, anything could still happen. Villa Park will be raucous like nobody will have seen for decades. Will that intimidate the PSG players? We'll wait and see. Aston Villa themselves have got real speed on the break.

Rashford is continuing to flourish. Does Ollie Watkins come back in the frame? And you mentioned there Morgan Rodgers as one of the real stories of the season in terms of this attacking midfielder who just always has a night to score goals now. So they will think one goal, this tie is back alive.

unfortunately for them, they're coming up against such a strong PSG. But as you've said, PSG have had problems in this competition and there was a huge pressure on Luis Enrique and this football club to win the Champions League, especially now as they are the favourites to go and do it. That brings a different kind of pressure. We'll see how these young players react. Arsenal are still in the tie, but they're playing against such a young team that doesn't seem to have any fear in it.

My money is still very much on PSG, but Unai Emery will be working through something to kind of drag Aston Villa back alive and to that night. It may be that he says, look, just keep it tight and keep it nil at half-time. We're two goals behind going into the second half. We may fancy that. The big problem they've got, as highlighted there by the statistics, PSG just absolutely dominate you in terms of their offence. So it's very difficult to see how you're going to stop them from scoring a goal.

Well, it's Southampton at the weekend for Aston Villa before the return leg at Villa Park on Tuesday evening. Lots of the back pages as well talking about developments at Liverpool and the contract situations involving Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold. The Mail's back page, Salah's staying. This is the growing confidence that Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk will sign on again at Liverpool.

Miguel, I guess, is two out of three the best case scenario? It seems now that Real Madrid are increasingly confident that Trent Alexander-Arnold will move to Real Madrid in the summer from Liverpool. Is two out of three the best case scenario for Liverpool? Yeah, I think this has been the direction of travel really almost going as far back as the start of the season.

Now, it hasn't always been a straight direction of travel, especially in the last few weeks, when suddenly there was almost a bit more kind of doubt about it, especially with Van Dijk's public comments around the PSG game. Salah is obviously, and the whole Salah camp, it's almost felt like they were constantly creating a little bit of energy to the situation, shall we say. But the one thing with Salah is...

there was never actually any sense that he really wanted to go. I mean, like the message, every time you read between the lines was he wanted to stay at Liverpool. We knew about there was a massive offer from Saudi Arabia, I think it was from Al-Hilal. Paris Saint-Germain, well, actually funny enough, those of Paris Saint-Germain would say actually they were never that interested in Salah because they don't sign players that age group now, but a lot of people felt there was a potential offer there.

but Salah, there was never an indication that he wanted, he wanted to stay at Liverpool, he wants to win, he wants to win the Champions League again, he wants to keep winning trophies, and there is, it does feel like, despite this obviously coming down to a lot of discussion about money, he's got a lot of affiliation with this club, understandably so, given what he's done there and what he's won there, and the Van Dijk one, I think, it almost felt like that was almost in the background compared to the noise about the other two, even though he's obviously, arguably,

a more influential player than both. Again, I say arguably. But yeah, I think that was always the expectation as well, other than that one time when Van Dijk himself said there was no movement. Well, it looks like there's very much movement now. Yeah, Martin, how pivotal was this for Richard Hughes in that sporting director job? Look, people have been talking about a potential rebuild in the summer for Liverpool. Do these new contracts negate the need for a major surgery in the summer at Liverpool?

Yeah, well, we're talking about a team that's probably going to win the Premier League at a canter, that are going to lose Trent, that would be prepared to sell Darwin Nunes.

Diaz could go. If you were going to put Virgil van Dijk and Mo Salah into that sale as well, you're talking about half the team disappearing, which would have been strange given the fact that they are significantly better than anybody this season. So I think they had to be careful with who they lost. You know, you go back to November, Mo Salah, give the quote of I'm more out than in. So he has been prepared to play the game on this one. As Miguel said, Virgil van Dijk has been so imperious at the back that his

signature to stay feels as important in terms of often solidity that the example he gives to the club just how good defensively they are and you know he's still at the age of 33 amongst the best central defenders in Europe so both players staying is a

feels like a massive boost for Liverpool and I'm sure they will take it as a step forward. It's something that sets them up nicely for next season. They still, if they do sell Darwin Nunes, as we think, and there was an approach from him in January, they still need a centre forward, which they will feel they can buy to make this team even better. It still has elements of being Jurgen Klopp's players and Arnie Slott's style. So perhaps we'll see players that perhaps match more what he wants from them as it moves forward.

Let's go to the Telegraph. Inside their sports section, they are talking about the quite extraordinary news conference given by Nemanja Matic, who's embroiled himself in a war of words with the Manchester United goalkeeper, Andre Onana. It followed an interview given by Onana where he said that United were way better than Lyon.

on paper and Matic hit back and said, "If you are one of the worst goalkeepers in Manchester United's history, you need to take care of what you are talking about." Now, I guess we must give credit to Simon Peach of the Press Association who asked the question of Matic and did give the whole thing in context and said,

He did say, you're a good team, it's going to be a tough game. But then he said, United are way better than Lyon on paper. So in kind of the first bit of the question, it was, you're all right. The second bit of the question was quite extraordinary. So, Miguel, what did you make of it all?

As you say, it's extraordinary. It's almost like trash talking before a prize fight. And also something that feels actually a bit out of kilter with the modern game, the extent of media training we know players have. And not just a prize fight, but something out of the 1970s, the sort of thing that Clough and Rivey would have got themselves involved in. Actually, I can't remember too many modern games where players have gone out of each other's way. And that sense now where you're actually... You're going to be watching the match and...

A, wondering how Onan is going to respond to this. B, watching is there going to be any flashpoints between them because there's so much potential for this now to pop off. And it's incredible. I mean...

Talking about media training, Onana's initial comment about how we're way better, that's actually quite unusual. There's usually much more respect about when teams talk about each other, especially in Europe. Although, as you say, and as Simon pointed out to Nemanja Maric, he didn't caveat it. So, I mean, that was striking enough. But then for Maric to go from that to...

To the extent of the comment, one of the worst goalkeepers in Manchester United's history. Not even he's a bit questionable or anything like that. Yeah, it certainly added a lot of colour to this. Martin, when you're in a press conference like that and you get a player who gives you an answer like that, are you tapping everybody next to you in the press conference going, did he say that? Are your eyes lighting up in the room there?

Yeah, yeah, that definitely does happen. I was at the Joe Kinnear press conference in Newcastle when he went bananas. And as soon as it starts, everybody kind of is on red alert that this is something unusual. To me, this symbolises the decline of Manchester United. Nemanja Matic, a centre midfielder who shuffled round Old Trafford with his best user Chelsea behind him, slagging off a goalkeeper in an honour who is, probably as he correctly says, way down the list of great goalkeepers.

What, Lyon fifth against Manchester United? That aren't even the top 10.

in Europe's second tier competition arguing about who's the worst. Nothing kind of characterises the decline of Man United more than this. And it feels to me, it's kind of, it should be the starting block for everybody to go, right, we've got a lot wrong here. This is not what should be happening. And Arna should not be arguing with Matic about who had the worst time at Old Trafford. And Arna has his two cup wins in his back pocket. Matic in five years didn't win everything.

that we are now kind of the other person is pointing at the other person. So,

Yeah, it doesn't look great, but it's a great copy. It's a great colour. It actually makes the game much more interesting than it would have been to start with. But as I said, Nemanja Matic shuffling around the midfield for Man Utd, to me, kind of symbolised their decline and their fall back. And that was when they joined 2017. I don't actually think they've turned that around since then. And him picking fights with a Man Utd goalkeeper is extremely amusing before a game, but it does tell you that this is a club in full.

Certainly adds a bit of spice, as you say, ahead of this Europa League tie. Let's reflect a little bit more on the Champions League because obviously it was a terrific night for Arsenal at home against Real Madrid. They are in full control of that quarterfinal tie against Real Madrid. And Miguel, in your paper, The Independent, you've written about the three words that inspired Arsenal's greatest Champions League night. Tell us what they were.

Make it happen. Arteta said it three times after the game and apparently said it a lot more beforehand. I think that's probably one of the biggest things about this match from Arsenal because this wasn't a kind of a tight tactical victory. They completely overwhelmed Real Madrid in the way that I suppose some of Arteta's best teams have done over the past three years and actually something he's been criticised for.

for losing. And I think, look, from speaking to people around Arsenal, you know, trying to kind of put that game in context, one of the big things was about how, say,

They played Bayern Munich last season, the first time they've been in the quarterfinal in almost 20 years. There was a sense of a nervous tension around the team that they kind of didn't quite feel like they were ready for the level yet. It was all psychological. There was an aspect of playing the badge. They had to go through that. And before this game, there was absolutely none of that. And I suppose it is all about that kind of conviction that Arteta has sought to distill. And that is actually one reason, say, and I mentioned this in the piece, why he doesn't necessarily sign certain strikers that other players

people outside would expect because it's all about kind of conditioning the right mentality in the group. Everyone has this singular focus. And I think that was distilled in a performance like this. The only caveat, I suppose, as I do say at the end of the piece is they're now going to the club who probably more than any other in Europe believe they can...

overturn any situation in their own stadium so in maybe a quarter finals where it does feel like three to four leg or three to four ties are quite lopsided there's maybe the most intrigue about that because the big test for Arsenal the big psychological test is whether they can withstand the force of Madrid because this is where that aura and I mentioned that kind of aspect in the piece a lot that's where it really comes into play

Yeah, and the Telegraph talk about what Arsenal thought about Declan Rice and his set-piece prowess. They said that Arsenal always knew that Rice could be a free-kick king. I don't know how they knew that when he'd not scored a direct free-kick in his whole senior career, but there you go. Martin, what about Declan Rice and that performance and those free-kicks? There was a podcast in about a year or two ago that I caught Mark Noble talking about Declan Rice when he was at West Ham.

And he said Joe Hart was a pretty intimidating goalkeeper and if you took the mickey out of him, he would chase you around the London Stadium and try and half kill you. And he, and this is Mark Noble, just dropped it in there. He said, Declan Rice is a beautiful striker of the ball. He can absolutely ping it. So I kind of sat in the back of my mind. He then went on to say that they were doing free kicks and Declan Rice put one past Joe Hart from 25 yards and said, you know, pick that out. And Joe Hart said, if you do that again, I'll come after you. So,

So Declan Rice did exactly the same thing, pinged it in the top corner, took the mickey out of him and was chased into the dressing room by a furious Joe Hart. That stuck my mind that this is a player that can strike the ball really well. The problem that he has had is that we didn't know if he was a sitting midfielder, we didn't know if he was the pivot that England needed, we didn't know if he was a number eight. He has to then listen to Graeme Souness and Roy Keane saying he needs to score 10 goals a season. So we're kind of asking him to do a bit of everything now.

Last night, what you saw was part of the quality that he can bring to the pitch and why he costs so much money. Two brilliant, brilliant strikes that make Arsenal the favourites now go through against all expectations to beat Real Madrid. But he is capable of this kind of thing. It's just kind of deciding what we want from him that will be the hard part. And maybe Thomas Tuchel will define that in the next 18 months. But yeah, a brilliant night for him and a brilliant night for Arsenal as Miguel has eloquently put there.

And lots of the papers as well on the eve of the Masters, looking at Rory McIlroy's chances of the career Grand Slam at Augusta. Rory has revealed that he's tried hypnosis in his bid to win that elusive green jacket. That's been reported by The Times. Miguel, what do you make of his chances? He says he's never been more confident going into the Masters. Can he back it up this week?

But it's funny, we've talked about psychology a lot today on the show. And I suppose this is never more evident here, especially that point about hypnosis. It indicates someone looking to get into that right mindset. And obviously, as much as anything, results help. He had this massive upturn in form. He's won the players. He's won in Houston. And given the kind of this noise around his career since his last major,

I can, it's hard to remember when it was such a kind of an air of kind of serenity around McElroy. And obviously, yeah, hypnosis is just an element. But I think the willingness to even try that displays that sort of mindset as well. It's not kind of a desperate last chance. It's about kind of honing final details.

It certainly will be interesting to see how Rory gets on. It's live for you across the Sky Sports platforms, the Masters. Just got time to mention the back page of the Eye where they talk about Newcastle and the future of Alexander Isak. Toon, Price, Liverpool and Arsenal out of Isak. Move, just your thoughts on the future of Alexander Isak, Martin, just briefly.

Well, the fee's been mentioned before, the £150 million. I don't think anybody now in European football is going to pay £150 million for a player. Alexander Izak's lot is rising. It was his agent that kind of stole the talks with Newcastle last summer in terms of a new deal. They have said, and Newcastle have said, they will sit down in the summer.

It may depend if Newcastle beats the Champions League, but inside of Alex, and you know, the bet would probably be just towards Alexander Izakstein, but at the same time, this is a player with ambitions. He has one Champions League goal and Batby has 53 and Erling Haaland has 48. He will want Newcastle to be competitive.

them guarantees are given perhaps we're waiting to see how this plays out but nobody's going to pay £150 million but it's whether or not the player expresses his desire to leave at any point which he hasn't done at all yet so far okay thanks very much Miguel Martin thanks for your time