Aston Villa showed they belong among Europe's elite again

Ezri Konsa covered his face in bemusement as the camera panned across both teams' lineups before Tuesday's Champions League contest.

The pre-match gaffe of Villa Park playing the livelier Europa League anthem rather than the more grandiose and moving Champions League theme led to sharp-tongued claims that it reflected the club's inexperience in the competition. After all, the second leg of their quarterfinal against Paris Saint-Germain was Aston Villa's biggest continental fixture since winning the 1982 European Cup. This season marked their first appearance in the competition since 1983, well before it was rebranded as the Champions League.

But Aston Villa's place at Europe's top table shouldn't be questioned after Tuesday's 5-4 aggregate defeat to PSG. Konsa expressed pride following the final whistle, his earlier embarrassment long abandoned after the team and its fans created a spectacle that belonged at the pinnacle of club football.

The deafening crowd produced a tifo in the Holte End with two roaring lions on either side of the message, "This is Villa Park," to mark the occasion. Tens of thousands of scarves were held aloft, creating an artful dappling of white across the packed claret-and-blue house. Even when PSG scored twice within 27 minutes to carve out a four-goal aggregate advantage, the supporters weren't truly silenced.

"At that point, they didn't have anything to lose because they lost the first match and (halfway through) the first half. The atmosphere in the stadium was very nice," PSG head coach Luis Enrique told Amazon Prime, according to BBC Sport.

The grand stadium that perches over the Aston neighborhood of Birmingham, and the fans who fill it, adds a lot to the Champions League. That should've been clear after October's rousing victory over Bayern Munich in the league phase. It was made painstakingly obvious Tuesday.

Unai Emery's team adds an awful lot, too.

His players rallied with three goals, and it was fitting that the driving forces of the comeback attempt - one that, if completed, would've been among the most iconic in Champions League history - were John McGinn and Marcus Rashford. The scrappy captain with the generously proportioned backside, who did the hard yards with Villa in the Championship, and a forward with 80 European appearances - almost half of which are in the Champions League - who is a symbol of the club's soaring ambition.

McGinn bounced around with the zip and bite of Max Verstappen ripping around in a bumper car, setting the tone for the rest of Emery's men. He also showcased an ability to compose himself when it counted. He filled a space in front of PSG's backline before smartly rolling the ball to Youri Tielemans for Villa's first goal. He then ratcheted up the stadium's volume even more when he carried the ball forward from his own end early in the second half. The PSG defenders eventually converged on him, but it was too late. He had the room to smash a long-range shot past Gianluigi Donnarumma via a slight deflection off defender Willian Pacho.

Rashford, meanwhile, hints at what's to come for Villa. Like fellow January loan signing Marco Asensio, it would've been hard to imagine Rashford ever playing for Aston Villa only last summer. The Manchester United outcast had so far delivered brief flashes of excellence to help repay Emery for the chance to rebuild his career, but he came alive after McGinn's goal. He soon drifted in from the flank and forced Donnarumma into an excellent save. Then, from the resulting corner, he provided one of the standout assists of the Champions League campaign.

His corner was repelled from the box, but Rashford had the awareness and will to rush back into an onside position while Matty Cash rose to head the initial clearance back toward danger. The ball plopped down at Rashford's feet on the right wing. The Mancunian nonchalantly evaded an overcommitted Fabian Ruiz, fled past Vitinha with a slick sway of his hips, then had the presence of mind to ignore the cluster of players crammed into the 6-yard box, and played the ball back to Konsa. The defender slammed in Villa's third goal with the precision of a seasoned striker.

Were it not for Donnarumma, Villa would have come all the way back.

The Italian has made his fair share of high-profile mistakes at PSG. But on this occasion, he was faultless for Villa's three goals and frustrated the hosts as six more shots were fired on target but couldn't find the net, including a late Asensio breakaway. One of those efforts might have beaten Donnarumma in the final seconds had it gotten through, but Pacho heroically blocked substitute Ian Maatsen's well-struck attempt.

Villa were so close to sending the match to extra time and potentially fashioning another famous European result. It was a scenario few could have envisaged when they were four goals adrift on aggregate against the hottest team in Europe.

"We wanted to go out there and just prove a point," Konsa explained of the team's fight.

After going toe-to-toe with many people's favorites to win the Champions League, consider that point proven.