The official Champions League quarter final first leg team of the week and has been announced and it features three Arsenal players in the XI. Neither Bukayo Saka nor Thomas Partey found a replace but double free-kick hero Declan Rice was in the TOTW, as were defenders William Saliba and Jurrien Timber.
UCL official Quarter Final First Leg TOTW April 2025
Goalkeeper– Sommer (Inter)
Defenders– Nuno Mendes (PSG), Bastoni (Inter), Saliba and Timber (both Arsenal)
Here is a look at the Paris SG 3-1 Aston Villa player ratings from L’Equipe, Marca and other European sports newspapers. The winner of this PSG AVFC quarterfinal tie are potentially Arsenal’s semifinal opponents, should the Gunners hold on to their 3-0 lead from their first leg win against Real Madrid.
L’Equipe player ratings PSG 3-1 Aston Villa Champions League 2025
AVFC were given a 4.4/10 team rating from French paper L’Equipe.
Marcus Rashford, on loan at Villa from Man United, started upfront ahead of Ollie Watkins and was given a 4/10 rating by L’Equipe.
Axel Disasi, on loan from Chelsea, replaced Matty Cash at half time, but he struggled to have an impact too, managing only a 3/10.
On the PSG side, Doue and Kvicha were their best players against Aston Villa in this QF first leg.
Here is a look at the newspaper headlines and front pages of some of Spain’s biggest sports newspapers following Real Madrid’s 3-0 loss to Arsenal in the first leg of their CL tie.
Real surprisingly lost 3-0 to Arsenal, with Declan Rice scoring two fantastic free kicks (the first time in his senior career that he’s scored a free kick goal!)
Marca newspaper front page and headline 9 April 2025
Marca went with the “Humillados” (Humiliated) headline, but also added a note underneath that “For Madrid, nothing is impossible“, indicating that one can never count Los Blancos out of the tie ahead of the return leg at the Bernabeu despite trailing 3-0 from the first leg.
Real have had an uncanny knack of coming up trumps even when the odds are against them in Europe, and the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea know all too well about it.