‘World’s best squad’

PSG’s Achraf Hakimi celebrates scoring against Aston Villa in the quarter-final second leg at Birmingham on Tuesday. Pic/Getty Images

Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Enrique described his group of players as the "best squad in the world" after advancing to the Champions League semi-finals for the second straight season.

Under the Spaniard, PSG has replaced its "galacticos" like Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe with talented up-and-coming players and the change in policy appears to be paying off.

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Luis Enrique

With the French league already secured, the Qatar-owned club can focus on winning the Champions League for the first time, having reached the last eight for the third time in five years - albeit after losing 2-3 to Aston Villa in the second leg of the quarter-final on Tuesday.

Luis Enrique reserved special praise for his goalkeeper, Gianluigi Donnarumma, who produced a string of great saves to prevent Villa taking the game to extra time. "I think I have the best squad in the world, not only the goalkeeper," Luis Enrique said after seeing his team advance 5-4 on aggregate. "In a club like we are at PSG, you have a lot of quality players and Gigi is one of the best goalkeepers in the world. And I have to say that match, for us, allows us to grow up and compete even better," he added.

Achraf Hakimi was one of the early scorers for PSG on Tuesday - along with fellow full back Nuno Mendes - and the Morocco international said "we are on the way to becoming a big team" having already eliminated Premier League champion-elect Liverpool. "I think we are really confident right now," Hakimi said. "We are again in the semi-final and we want to show PSG is a big team."

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