Dembele admits PSG switched off against Villa

Paris Saint-Germain’s Ousmane Dembele said his side needed to learn not to switch off in big games after almost collapsing against Aston Villa in their Champions League quarter-final on Tuesday, and called on his teammates to avoid making the same mistake in the last four.

“You have to be demanding especially in matches like these. We made the task difficult for ourselves, even if Aston Villa put us under a lot of pressure,” Dembele told French broadcaster Canal Plus after PSG lost 3-2 on the night in the second leg, but squeezed through to the semi-finals 5-4 on aggregate.

ALSO READ: Ancelotti says ‘sorry’ Mbappe deserved the red card

“They have good players too but I think we made life really difficult for ourselves, especially in the second half where we completely went off the boil.”

The French champions travelled to England leading 3-1 from last week’s first leg in Paris, and appeared to have completely killed off the tie as they found themselves 2-0 ahead on the night inside the opening half an hour.

Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes both scored for the visitors at Villa Park, but a deflected Youri Tielemans effort gave the hosts a glimmer of hope before half-time.

John McGinn and Ezri Konsa then both netted in the space of two minutes early in the second half, leaving PSG to hang on grimly at times to their narrow lead.

“We thought we were better than we are,” admitted Dembele.

“At 2-1 we thought we were already qualified, that the tie was over. But this is what the Champions League is like.

“You can come up against teams, especially when they are at home with a heated crowd like that, who can turn games around. So we need to be more demanding of ourselves in the semi-finals.”

– ‘Get down to work’ –

Through to their second consecutive semi-final in the competition, PSG will face the winner of the last-eight tie between Arsenal and Real Madrid.

Those sides meet in Spain on Wednesday for the return leg with Arsenal leading 3-0 from last week’s meeting in London.

Arsenal defeated PSG 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium in October, during the league phase.

“This will help us enormously, especially as it should teach us to not stop playing, to keep playing both games right to the end,” insisted France star Dembele.

“We are happy to be through but now we need to get back down to work because to win this trophy you need to be really, really demanding.”

He nevertheless admitted that there was “lots of joy in the dressing room” at the end of the game, as PSG remain on course to win the Champions League for the first time in their history.

“For Paris Saint-Germain to be in the semi-finals is good for the club and for the whole (French) league, and we will try to do our best to get to the final,” added the 27-year-old.

PSG have now lost five matches out of 14 in the Champions League this season, including three out of six against Premier League opposition, but midfielder Vitinha insisted that being through to the next round was the main thing.

“We knew that qualifying was the most important thing, even if we always want to win,” the Portuguese international told Canal Plus.

“We know it is not easy, playing against a good team in an incredible atmosphere. We started the match well, but then we created problems for ourselves, conceding goals the way we did.

“We were also up against a team who had nothing to lose and who kept pushing, and we switched off a bit, and when you do that in the Champions League you pay for it.

“But we managed to get through, to hold on until the end, so we are pleased. It is not easy to get to the semi-finals.”