Paris Saint-Germain staves off Villa comeback to reach Champions League semifinals

BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — Their players were rattled. Their goalkeeper was pulling off save after save. For Paris Saint-Germain, another brutal “remontada” looked on the cards in the Champions League.

This time, the French champions just about hung on.

PSG staved off a gallant fightback by Aston Villa to reach the semifinals of Europe's top competition despite a 3-2 loss to the English club on Tuesday.

Holding a 3-1 lead from last week’s quarterfinal first leg, PSG built a four-goal cushion thanks to goals by full backs Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes inside 27 minutes at Villa Park.

Villa, cheered on by Prince William, roared back thanks to a deflected shot before halftime by Youri Tielemans and then goals in a two-minute span from John McGinn and Ezri Konsa by the 57th.

Only a string of brilliant stops from PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma denied Villa a fourth goal that would have taken the match to extra time and seen the French club blow another four-goal lead — just like it did famously when losing to Barcelona in 2017, when current Villa manager Unai Emery was in charge of PSG.

“I don’t think we could have done anymore,” Konsa said.

PSG advanced 5-4 on aggregate to knock out a second Premier League team, after Liverpool in the round of 16. Next up could be another in Arsenal, which leads Real Madrid 3-0 from the first leg.

In Tuesday’s other quarterfinal, Barcelona advanced 5-3 on aggregate after losing 3-1 to Borussia Dortmund in the second leg.

PSG advanced to the semifinals for the third time in five seasons and this time they've done it without their “galacticos,” with Neymar, Lionel Messi and most recently Kylian Mbappé having left the club.

“I think over the two matches, we deserved to win,” PSG coach Luis Enrique said. “We are very happy because this is the second year in a row in the semifinals. Now we want to go to the next phase.”

Before the return leg against Villa, this new-look PSG was being talked up as a potential Champions League winner but that viewpoint might be checked given the way the team nearly collapsed at Villa Park.

There was as much relief as joy in the celebrations of PSG’s players, who are bidding to win the club’s first Champions League title. It lost in the final to Bayern Munich in 2020 and was eliminated in the semifinals by Dortmund last season.

“We believed in the end we were going to go through,” Marquinhos, PSG's Brazilian center back, said in comments from Portuguese to English on British broadcaster Amazon Prime. “But this is the Champions League — the games are always going to be difficult.”

Donnarumma ended up being PSG's savior, diving full length to claw away a powerful shot by Marcus Rashford and a header by Tielemans, and then standing tall to keep out Marco Asensio — a player on loan from PSG — when the playmaker was clean through.

Then, with virtually the last kick of the game, Villa substitute Ian Maatsen sent in a volley that might have been swerving into the bottom corner, only for PSG defender Willian Pacho to block the shot near the line.

And so for Villa, it marked the end of the road in the club's first European Cup campaign since 1982-83 season — when it was the reigning champion. Now it's all about qualifying again, with Villa sitting in seventh place in the Premier League and a point off the Champions League qualification spots.

“We showed tonight we can compete at the highest level,” Konsa said. “We want to do it again next season.”

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Aston Villa manager Unai Emery gestures during the Champions League quarterfinal second leg soccer match between Aston Villa and Paris Saint-Germain at the Villa Park stadium, in Birmingham, England, Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (David Davies/PA via AP)

CORRECTS PHOTOGRAPHER'S NAME - Britain's Prince William, centre top, reacts during the Champions League quarterfinal second leg soccer match between Aston Villa and Paris Saint-Germain at the Villa Park stadium, in Birmingham, England, Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (Nick Potts/PA via AP)

PSG's goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma and team mates applaud fans at the end of the Champions League quarterfinal second leg soccer match between Aston Villa and Paris Saint-Germain at the Villa Park stadium, in Birmingham, England, Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

PSG's Marquinhos celebrates with PSG's Willian Pacho at the end of the Champions League quarterfinal second leg soccer match between Aston Villa and Paris Saint-Germain at the Villa Park stadium, in Birmingham, England, Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Aston Villa fans cheer ahead of the Champions League quarterfinal second leg soccer match between Aston Villa and Paris Saint-Germain at Villa Park stadium, Birmingham, England, Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

PSG's head coach Luis Enrique waits for the start of the Champions League quarterfinal second leg soccer match between Aston Villa and Paris Saint-Germain at Villa Park stadium, Birmingham, England, Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Britain's Prince William and Prince George attend the Champions League quarterfinal second leg soccer match between Aston Villa and Paris Saint-Germain at the Villa Park stadium, in Birmingham, England, Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

PSG's Achraf Hakimi celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal during the Champions League quarterfinal second leg soccer match between Aston Villa and Paris Saint-Germain at Villa Park stadium, Birmingham, England, Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

PSG's Nuno Mendes, right, scores his side's second goal during the Champions League quarterfinal second leg soccer match between Aston Villa and Paris Saint-Germain at Villa Park stadium, Birmingham, England, Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

PSG's Nuno Mendes celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the Champions League quarterfinal second leg soccer match between Aston Villa and Paris Saint-Germain at the Villa Park stadium, in Birmingham, England, Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Britain's Prince William, centre, and Prince George, top right, support Aston Villa during the Champions League quarterfinal second leg soccer match between Aston Villa and Paris Saint-Germain at the Villa Park stadium, in Birmingham, England, Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (Nick Potts/PA via AP)

PSG's Achraf Hakimi, centre, celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal during the Champions League quarterfinal second leg soccer match between Aston Villa and Paris Saint-Germain at Villa Park stadium, Birmingham, England, Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Fans of Villa display a sign before the Champions League quarterfinal second leg soccer match between Aston Villa and Paris Saint-Germain at Villa Park stadium, Birmingham, England, Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

PSG's Nuno Mendes celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the Champions League quarterfinal second leg soccer match between Aston Villa and Paris Saint-Germain at the Villa Park stadium, in Birmingham, England, Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

PSG's Achraf Hakimi celebrates after scoring his side's first goal during the Champions League quarterfinal second leg soccer match between Aston Villa and Paris Saint-Germain at the Villa Park stadium, in Birmingham, England, Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

PSG's Desire Doue celebrates after scoring his side's first goal during the Champions League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Aston Villa at Parc des Princes stadium in Paris, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

State Sen. Dan McKeon tearfully announced his resignation from the Nebraska Legislature on Tuesday ahead of scheduled debate to expel him from the body after accusations that he made a sexually charged comment to a legislative staffer and touched her inappropriately during a session-end party last year.

McKeon, a Republican from rural south-central Nebraska who had served only a year before his resignation, announced his resignation and apologized on the legislative floor just minutes before debate that would certainly have included harsh condemnation of McKeon.

“My words and actions were careless, regardless of the intent,” McKeon said. “I accept my responsibility for the impact of my words and my actions.”

“This past year has humbled me. It requires reflection, listening and learning. Accountability is not only acknowledging my mistake but committing to grow from it. I take that responsibility seriously,” McKeon said, his voice cracking.

His demeanor was a departure from what many of his fellow lawmakers found to be a defiant and flippant attitude toward the accusations leading up to his resignation. McKeon's exit came a day after the 10-member Executive Board, the body's governing board, voted unanimously to forward a motion to expel McKeon to the full Legislature for a vote.

The unprecedented move followed a complaint from the staffer who works for another lawmaker that McKeon approached her and another aide during a May 29 party and engaged in small talk about everyone's vacation plans. The woman said McKeon told her she should “get laid” on her vacation and patted her on her buttocks. McKeon has countered that he “made a bad pun," telling the woman she and her spouse should “go to Hawaii and enjoy a Hawaiian lei,” according to McKeon's attorney.

McKeon also countered that he patted the staffer on the back and may have accidentally brushed her rear end, but insists that if he did, it was unintentional.

McKeon's departure comes as more attention has focused on sexual harassment within state legislatures nationwide — including in Nebraska. The accusations against McKeon came about 15 months after the body was thrown in chaos when another Republican state lawmaker, former Sen. Steve Halloran, read a graphic account of rape from a bestselling memoir on the floor of the Legislature in which he repeatedly invoked the name of a fellow lawmaker, making it appear as if that lawmaker was the subject of the assault.

An outside investigation found that Halloran had violated the body’s workforce sexual harassment policy, and the Legislature's governing Executive Board issued him a letter of reprimand. But that action was met with strong criticism from several lawmakers who said Halloran should have faced a censure vote by the full body. Halloran left office in January 2025 due to term limits.

This time around, the Executive Board took a harder stance after a several lawmakers and another outside investigation found that McKeon had a history of making inappropriate comments and jokes during his time in the Legislature. The investigator also found that McKeon ignored a directive by the Executive Board's chairman not to attend events where staffers would be, showing up that same day at another party attended by the woman who filed the complaint against him.

The investigator also found that a text McKeon sent to another staffer who shares an office with the woman, in which he said she “seems to be difficult to work with,” could constitute retaliation against her.

The report determined that McKeon’s conduct did not rise to a level of sexual harassment or retaliation actionable under state or federal discrimination law, but that it did violate the Nebraska Legislature’s workplace harassment policy.

McKeon becomes at least the 57th state lawmaker in the nation to leave office via expulsion or resignation since 2017 following sexual misconduct allegations.

He also faces a misdemeanor charge of disturbing the peace after a Nebraska State Patrol investigation into his interaction with the staffer last May. McKeon has pleaded not guilty to that charge and is set to appear in court on Jan. 26.

State sen. Daniel McKeon sits during the first day of Nebraska's 2026 legislative session, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, at the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln, Neb. (Nikos Frazier/Omaha World-Herald via AP)

State Sen. Daniel McKeon takes notes during the first day of Nebraska's 2026 legislative session, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, at the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln, Neb. (Nikos Frazier/Omaha World-Herald via AP)