'Villa rattled PSG in a manner well beyond Man City and Liverpool'

Unai Emery has enjoyed too much success in Europe to listen to talk of glorious failure but, if there is such a thing, Aston Villa delivered it on a night of pure theatre at Villa Park.

Villa's Champions League odyssey ended with defeat by Paris St-Germain, but the manner in which they unnerved arguably the most impressive side in this season's competition demonstrated that they belonged in this elite company.

Everyone inside Villa Park would have had a bet against them as Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes put PSG 2-0 up inside the first half-hour.

But instead of subsiding, Villa rose to rattle PSG in a manner that was well beyond Manchester City and Liverpool in previous Champions League rounds this season.

The great comeback was just beyond Villa, but in the disappointment there was glory.

The task now is for Villa and Emery to ensure they are back on the Champions League stage next season because nights like this - and triumphs such as those against Bayern Munich earlier in the campaign - will have whetted the appetite and more.

Emery will also store away the knowledge and experience of this season, making it instantly clear he wants more, saying: "It is now most important to get Europe again. The most important competition is the Champions League.

"To get this level is the next step forward that I want to try to build with Aston Villa."

Villa left nothing out there at Villa Park in their quest to reach the semi-finals.

And Emery, who has made Europe his speciality, will want this to be just the start of Villa's Champions League experiences.