Aston Villa have taken a significant step towards a place in the Champions League quarter final after they posted a 3-1 win over Club Brugge in the first leg of their last 16 tie. Villa welcome the Belgian outfit to Villa Park next Tuesday with home advantage and a two-goal lead.
It means they’ve positioned themselves almost perfectly for a crack at one of Europe’s biggest teams in the quarter finals; Villa will face, provided they progress as expected, either Liverpool or Paris Saint Germain, who take on one another in the last 16 and play in Paris tonight.
Villa won 3-1 on Tuesday thanks to Leon Bailey, a Brandon Mechele own goal and a Marco Asensio penalty – the latter’s fifth goal in seven appearances since he joined the club on a loan basis in the winter transfer window – from PSG.It would appear as though Asensio has little future in the French capital where, for the time being, he has another year remaining on his contract with the Ligue 1 giants. Ask Unai Emery, or the average Villa fan on the street and, such is the impact the Spaniard has already made, they’d tell you they’d love to see him return in the summer.
In the meantime, there remains a chance that Villa and PSG could come up against one another in the next round of the Champions League; it would involve PSG beating English champions elect Liverpool over two legs, which would be some achievement the way the Reds have performed this season.
In the event Villa v PSG materialises in the quarter finals, can Asensio play against his parent club? The answer, in a word, is yes. While in the Premier League loanees can’t play against their parent clubs – Axel Disasi didn’t feature against Chelsea, nor will Marcus Rashford against Manchester United in May – but in Europe UEFA’s rules are different.
UEFA’s rules outline that clubs cannot apply “any influence whatsoever over the players that another club may (or may not) field in a match”.
Samuel Iling-Junior played against Villa earlier this season for Bologna, while there are other examples down the years of players playing – and having an impact – against their parent clubs, including Philippe Coutinho scoring twice in Bayern Munich’s 8-2 win over Barcelona in 2019/20.
