Aston Villa boss Unai Emery wants his side to "write the history" by producing an epic comeback against Paris Saint-Germain to reach the Champions League semi-finals.
Villa have a mountain to climb in tonight's quarter-final second leg at Villa Park as they trail 3-1 from last Wednesday's first match in France.
They looked like returning to home soil with just a one-goal deficit but Nuno Mendes’ stoppage-time effort proved damaging.
The odds are against Emery’s men on their debut season in the Champions League but the Spaniard knows all about European comebacks, famously being the PSG manager when they squandered a 4-0 first-leg lead to lose to Barcelona in 2017. His opposite number that night was the French side's current manager, Luis Enrique.
"I have experiences of coming back, positively and negatively," said Emery.
"But now it’s something different. We want to write the history with Aston Villa. Last year in the Conference League and this year in the Champions League and hopefully for a long time in Europe.
"Because my experiences before were different, sometimes losing away and winning at home, sometimes losing at home and winning away.
"But I’m not going to remind the players of those experiences because my idea and my every word with the players is sending the message how we are doing this way and how we are getting experiences together here with Aston Villa.
"With the players we are, with the experiences we are adding in our back last year and this year.
"As well with the combination we have with our players mentally and as well tactically to play, being so demanding in our process to get opportunities and believing to beat tomorrow PSG."
Emery said that Mendes’ late goal at the Parc des Princes did not fundamentally change Villa’s outlook on the tie and that they have to win the game regardless.
He said: "Ok, 2-1, 3-1 it changes something. A lot, no. Why? We have to win. We have to win with 2-1 and 3-1 and now we have to win by one more goal.
"We competed there like we planned, the result we achieved was not really a bad result. We were in good balance for the second leg. The objective is to win."
Morgan Rogers, who put Villa 1-0 up in Paris last week, says his side believe they can produce the comeback.
"There’s massive belief. Most people wrote us off before the tie," he said.
"We know the task at hand. We know what we need to do but we’re excited under the lights at home playing this competition in the quarter-final.
"There’s not many places better to be, and if anyone’s going to turn it around, it’s going to be us.
"It’s down to us, and I think we’re excited for that challenge, looking forward, but we know it’s going to be difficult.
"We’re not saying we’re going to do it by any stretch of the imagination, but we will definitely give it a go and go out to win 100%."
PSG boss Enrique said his side would not be intimidated by a hostile atmosphere at Villa Park as they looked to finish the job.
The atmosphere is expected to be raucous in what is Villa’s biggest home game since they lost to Juventus in the European Cup quarter-final in 1983 but Enrique insisted that would not scare his side as they aimed to book their semi-final spot.
"For us, it is always a pleasure to play and compete in a stadium like this, with so much history," he said.
"We love playing football. Our teams and supporters are accustomed to this. It is going to be a big match, there is certainly no problem with the atmosphere. It is a motivation, more than anything."
Despite their comfort in the environment, Enrique insisted his side still had work to do.
"The tie isn’t over, it is still open. It is going to be difficult. We are prepared to suffer if necessary to get our aim and win this match," the Spaniard warned.
"At the end of the match there will be only one team in the semi-final and the other team is out. That is the beauty of the competition.
"Aston Villa are down at the moment but the tie remains very open and both teams know. There is no over-confidence in our side, we have got motivation to overcome the problems Aston Villa can set us and reach our aim of winning the match.
"When people talk about favourites before the match…the road of the Champions League is full of favourites who have been knocked out. We knew we were better and deserved to win in the first leg, but there is a second story. Who is going to win tomorrow?
"We have the advantage, but we don’t speculate about certainties. If Aston Villa are better than us they can overcome us, so we need to show we deserve to be in the semi-final."
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