Peter Withe's strike against Bayern Munich handed the Villans their solitary European Cup back in 1982, and now, under the studious guidance of Unai Emery, the Premier League outfit are just a handful of games away from repeating the feat.
Bayern themselves and Italian giants, Juventus, will attest to just how difficult an opponent Villa have been in the 2024/25 Champions League, so if Paris Saint-Germain believe they can walk into a semi-final against either Barcelona or Borussia Dortmund, it could be their undoing.
It's the first meeting between PSG and Aston Villa in European competitions and just the second Champions League quarter-final between French and English sides in the last eight editions of the tournament (Manchester City 1-3 Lyon in the only leg in 2019/20).
Luis Enrique taking nothing for granted against Aston Villa
PSG might appear to be overwhelming favourites in some quarters thanks to the way in which previous UCL favourites, Liverpool, were dispatched and the fact that Villa have never won away to a French opponent in European competition (P5 D2 L3); their most away games against teams from one nation without winning.
However, the victory at Anfield was PSG's first win in four attempts against English sides in the knockout stages of the competition, having previously lost to Man City (2015/16), Man United (2018/19) and City again (2020/21).
Luis Enrique is certainly taking nothing for granted, despite seeing his side lose only one game (against Liverpool in the first leg) in their last 29 matches in all competitions (25 of which were won).
"Against Liverpool (in the last 16), bookmakers said we had no chance, but in soccer, favourites do not exist," he told reporters in his pre-match press conference.
"There are eight teams that are in the quarter-finals because they deserve it. We will need to do what we have to do, and then we deserve to win on the field."
From a Villa perspective, Marco Asensio, a three-time Champions League winner with Real Madrid and on loan at Villa Park from PSG, will return to the French capital with a massive point to prove.
Eight goals scored in all competitions since his switch to the Midlands places him fourth on Villa's top scorer list this season behind only Jhon Duran (now at Al Nassr), Morgan Rogers and Ollie Watkins.
It's been a sensational spell for the Spaniard, and his three goals in two Champions League appearances for Villa (both as a substitute) came after he failed to score in 10 games for his former club in the competition.
If he finds the net in this game, 2024/25 would be his best-ever return in a single Champions League campaign.
Fellow loanee Marcus Rashford is also now finding his feet, and the pair could prove to be a handful for the hosts.
Rashford has already been decisive in two previous trips to the Parc des Princes when playing for Man United, so a decent result on Wednesday night would represent a hat-trick of sorts.
Unai Emery at least has another chance to get one over on Luis Enrique, a manager who has become something of a nemesis for him, given that the former has won just two of his 10 games against the latter (D1 L7), both wins coming in home fixtures.
It's the first time they’ve faced each other since the 2016/17 campaign, when Barcelona overturned a 0-4 deficit in the Round of 16 first leg - the first time such a turnaround was achieved in the competition's entire history - to eliminate Emery’s PSG side. Barca famously won 6-1 in the second leg.
Ominously, the hosts have a number of players at the top of their game right now, and they'll be buoyed from winning the Ligue1 title at the weekend.
Perhaps none more so than Ousmane Dembele, who has netted seven goals in his last six Champions League games. That's one more than in his previous 36 appearances in the competition combined (six), though six of those seven goals have been scored in away matches.
Midfield set to be key battleground at Parc des Princes
The midfield will likely be the key battleground where the game is won or lost.
Villa have seven players that have won possession back more than 100 times this season in all competitions, including midfielders John McGinn, Youri Tielemans and Morgan Rogers, suggesting a desire to put their opponents under intense pressure across the pitch as often as possible.
That may well be their route to success as, if PSG aren't able to get their natural game going, they could be moribund as an attacking force.
Keeping an eye on Vitinha, in particular, is a necessity. The Portuguese has completed 93% of his passes made under high-intensity pressure in this season's competition (544/586) - the highest completion rate of any midfielder in the competition (with a minimum of 100 attempted passes).
He also leads all players for line-breaking passes in the knockout stages of the current tournament (77).
With both sides preferring to play on the front foot for the most part, we could see a real classic Champions League game emerging across the 90 minutes.
Much of the action could come centrally as 52% of Aston Villa’s chances created in the Champions League this season have come from the middle third of the pitch (left/middle/right), which is the highest percentage of any side.
Meanwhile, Unai Emery’s team have conceded the fewest overall chances from the middle third this term (12).
PSG will try and make the second leg a foregone conclusion, given that in the five home games Villa have played in the competition this season, they've only conceded two goals, both coming in the same game in a 4-2 win over Celtic.
Bayern Munich (1-0) Bologna (2-0), Juventus (0-0) and Club Brugge (3-0) have all been held goalless by Villa and those results are a reasonable indicator of the difficulties that the French champions will face at Villa Park if the there's still something to play for after the first leg.
Follow the first leg of PSG vs Aston Villa here.
