Unai Emery made the bold decision to start Marcus Rashford instead of Ollie Watkins for Aston Villa away to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.
Given PSG’s strength, Villa were always expected to sit in and defend for large periods, hoping to get their own chances on the break.
And in the 35th minute when Morgan Rogers finished a beautiful flowing counter at the far post, it looked as if Emery’s plan was working.
However, some individual brilliance from the likes of Desire Doue and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia ultimately led PSG towards an ominous two-goal lead ahead of the second leg.
And although he’s had a fairly indifferent season by his standards, it was still odd to see Watkins not enter the game until the 79th minute, when he did replace Rashford.
France’s media rate Marcus Rashford against PSG
That being said, the French press did give their reviews of Rashford’s performance playing as a striker following full-time.
Rashford played a key role in Villa’s goal but was otherwise forced to do a lot of ‘dirty work’ in attempting to get his side up the pitch.
Reviewing his performance, France’s 90min gave Rashford a 3/10 for his efforts – a harsh score to say the least.
The outlet claimed that the on loan Manchester United striker grew into the game somewhat, but they still concluded that his efforts were ‘clumsy’ to begin.
READ MORE: How Aston Villa feel about signing Marcus Rashford permanently as Man United spot big change
They wrote: “Unavailable for 25 minutes, the English striker had a strange start. His team suffered waves of Parisian attacks, his contribution was less.
“It was as the match progressed that he finally showed himself, in what the Villans master best: quick transitions.
“Initially somewhat clumsy, he managed several important technical moves. On a long ball from Rogers, he took advantage of a misjudgment from Beraldo to rush into the box and send a back pass that was ultimately cleared by the Parisian defense.
“His second half was not very noticeable, far from it, the English striker was isolated and not very successful in his choices with the ball at his feet.”
Giving Rashford a 4.5/10 themselves, Footmercato said Rashford had a ‘very difficult’ match.
Translated from French: “The Englishman touched his first ball in the Parisian camp in the 22nd minute, as a symbol of his very difficult match.
“He was, however, an important relay on the goal action, on which he launched Tielemans in the surface, but that was about all he could offer.
“Replaced by Watkins, who did not even see the color of the ball for almost ten minutes before a pass applied to Rogers.”
Unai Emery will change Villa’s approach for the second leg
Speaking shortly after full-time, Emery admitted that he will change Villa’s approach for the second leg after their extensive defending in Paris.
Emery initially said the game went somewhat how he expected, before then confirming that his side will try to keep more possession at home.
He said: “They will still be a team that likes to make passes, keeping ball possession and trying to dominate.
“Today we were in medium and low block defending and maybe at home we can change. We can try to have more moments, keeping ball possession and trying to dominate.
“The match we played here we’re going to extend and we’re going to try to get opportunities to come back the result.
“We believe in our supporters, we believe in Villa Park and we believe in our players to get their best performances next week.”
