What Fans Said About Marco Asensio’s Display For Aston Villa vs Parent Club PSG
Hal Fish
21 – 27 minutes
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Aston Villa attacker Marco Asensio in action
Paris Saint-Germain came away with a 3-1 win vs Aston Villa first leg of their Champions League quarter-final. The involvement of Marco Asensio caught the eye, however, as he played against his parent club.
The away team shocked their hosts as they opened the scoring against the run of play with a brilliantly executed counter attack which saw Morgan Rogers finish at the far post into an empty net. However, their lead lasted just four minutes.
Indeed, Desire Doue helped his fast-growing reputation as he rocketed the ball in from the corner of the box to pull PSG level. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia then turned Axel Disasi inside out as he bagged a superb goal to give his side a lead early into the second half.
Both teams huffed and puffed in the remainder of the game, and just when it looked as though the quarterfinal would finish 2-1, Nuno Mendes stepped up with a last-gasp goal to make the second leg much more complicated for Villa.
Beyond the late goal to make it 301, the one other interesting thing to occur in the latter stages of the game was the substitution of Asensio, who came on for Jacob Ramsey in the 59th minute. It was noteworthy, of course, because the Spaniard is on loan from PSG to Villa – meaning he was playing against his parent club, having joined in the January transfer window.
Fans Said About Marco Asensio Playing vs His Parent Club
Booed by the Parc des Princes crowd as he came on
Asensio stats vs PSG
With Villa losing 2-1, Unai Emery entrusted Asensio as his wildcard off the bench but the truth is the Spaniard wasn’t able to have much of any impact on the game. As the stats show, he only managed six touches of the ball.
Perhaps he was overwhelmed by the situation. As one fan noted: “Marco Asensio is booed by the Parc des Princes crowd as he comes on for Jacob Ramsey.”
Either way, fans were pretty unimpressed with his efforts. One wrote: “Only time we saw Asensio was when he got subbed on. Didn’t notice him in the game since.”
Another added: “Asensio was useless, shouldn’t have taken Ramsey off.” Before someone more kindly remarked: “You can see why Asensio doesn’t get into this PSG side, and he’s absolutely exceptional himself. Scary.”
He did have one opportunity but failed to make it count as he dragged a shot well wide. Some supporters joked he missed it on purpose: “Asensio intentionally missed it bc he knows who his real family is.”
Even so, some felt that he deserved more minutes, and he simply wasn’t given enough time to get into the match. “Unai Emery has no good reason not to have started Marco Asensio,” one remarked.
Another said: “I must see a forward of Rashford, Watkins and Ssensio next week Emery, please.”
Robert Lewandowski and Fermin Lopez
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Why Asensio Could Play Vs PSG
UEFA laws allow it
Marco Asensio for Aston Villa vs PSG
Asensio could play against PSG because there are no UEFA laws that stop loanees from playing against their parent clubs. While this rule does exist domestically, it does not apply to European competitions, meaning that the 29-year-old was free to feature.
UEFA’s law states that clubs can’t apply ‘any influence whatsoever over the players that another club may (or may not) field in a match.’ This actually impacted Villa in the past, with Samuel Iling-Junior allowed to appear for Bologna at Villa Park despite being contracted to the Premier League club.
Thanks to the rule, three-time Champions League winner Asensio played against his own team. Even though he didn’t make much of an impact, he could yet be a pivotal figure in the second leg.
Stats via SofaScore
