Wayne Rooney says Aston Villa’s lack of top-level experience was responsible for a difficult first half against Paris Saint-Germain.
Unai Emery’s men found themselves 5-2 down on aggregate at the break after conceding goals from Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes.
First, a mistake from Emiliano Martinez led to Hakimi’s opener before Mendes finished off a counter-attack to make the aggregate score 5-1.
Three Villa goals from Youri Tielemans, John McGinn, and Ezri Konsa have since inspired hope of a remarkable comeback, with the game still ongoing, but Rooney still feels their first-half woes were down to a lack of experience.
‘It’s not tactically, you can see a lack of players playing at this level,’ he told Amazon Prime Video Sports.
‘Villa have to take the game for next year and moving forward as they lack experience at this level.
Wayne Rooney says a lack of experience caused their nightmare first half against PSG
But three goals from the hosts have inspired hope for an incredible comeback, with the game ongoing
‘You can press but have to at the right time, force them into positions where they have bodies around.
‘You have really good attacking players at PSG who will punish you.’
Of course, some of Villa’s stars have more experience than others.
Martinez is a World Cup-winning goalkeeper with Argentina, Pau Torres won the Europa League with Villarreal, and Marcus Rashford, also a winner of Europe’s secondary competition, came into the second leg against PSG with 36 Champions League outings under his belt.
More to follow.
