Birmingham, England –

Paris Saint-Germain survived a second half onslaught to beat Aston Villa 5-4 on aggregate and reach the Champions League semifinals despite a 3-2 defeat on Tuesday.

In the other quarterfinal that wrapped up Tuesday, five-time European champion Barcelona reached its first semifinal in six seasons with a 5-3 aggregate victory despite being beaten 3-1 by Borussia Dortmund.

PSG was cruising toward the last four when fullbacks Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes struck in the first 27 minutes to add to its 3-1 first-leg lead.

Youri Tielemans pulled a goal back for the English side before halftime and two goals in two minutes from John McGinn and Ezri Konsa transformed the tie early in the second period.

PSG was thankful to goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma for keeping Unai Emery's men at bay and preventing another famous collapse in the Champions League knockout stages.

"At the end, we got them suffering like we did," said Villas boss Emery. "To get this level is the next step forward that I want to try to build with Aston Villa."

Emery was in charge of PSG when Luis Enrique's Barcelona overturned a 4-0 first leg deficit with a dramatic 6-1 win in 2017.

Enrique again emerged victorious over his compatriot, but this time was the one who watched his team almost blow a seemingly unassailable lead.

"I have to say that match for us is something that allows us to grow up and try to compete even better," said Enrique.

"On the whole, two matches we deserved to win and we are very happy because it's the second year in a row in the semifinals."

Villa had not experienced a European night like this since 1983 and there was an embarrassing moment for the hosts before a ball was kicked as the Europa League anthem was played instead of the famous prematch hymn of the Champions League.

Enrique's surprise decision to start Bradley Barcola ahead of Desire Doue was justified just 11 minutes in when he sprinted down the left and Emiliano Martinez spilled his cross into the path of Hakimi, who fired home the opener.

Another blistering break from the visitors cut Villa open as Ousmane Dembele squared for left back Mendes to stroke in his fourth Champions League goal of the season and second of the tie.

Villa's refusal to give up the fight was rewarded when Tielemans' deflected effort pulled a goal back before halftime.

Villa fanatic Prince William and his son George were among the home supporters that were in raptures as what seemed like an impossible fightback came closer to reality.

McGinn's deflected effort flew into the top corner to restore parity on the night at 2-2.

Emery's decision to start with Marcus Rashford up front ahead of top scorer Ollie Watkins was a controversial one before kickoff.

Rashford has been reborn since a January loan move from Manchester United.

The England international was denied a goal by a stunning save from Donnarumma.

But from the resulting corner, Rashford nutmegged Fabian Ruiz, skipped past Vitinha and cut the ball back for Konsa to slot in at the near post.

A PSG side that looked imperious in the first 45 minutes was suddenly all at sea as Villa missed a series of chances to take the game to extra time.

Donnarumma produced more brilliant saves to deny Tielemans and then Marco Asensio against his parent club.

Willian Pacho blocked Ian Maatsen's goal-bound effort in stoppage time to deny Villa at the end.

But Aston Villa surpassed expectations in its first experience with the elite level of European soccer in over four decades.

For PSG, its quest to win the competition for the first time goes on and it has rarely had a better opportunity to end that wait.

Arsenal is their likely semifinal opponents as the Gunners take a 3-0 quarterfinal, first-leg advantage away to holders Real Madrid on Wednesday.

On the other half of the draw, Barcelona will face either Inter Milan or Bayern Munich in a heavyweight clash. On Tuesday, Serhou Guirassy scored a hat-trick for Dortmund to condemn Barca to its first defeat across all competitions this year, but it could not prevent the Catalans from reaching the last four.

"Dortmund did very well. We did not have our best day. I had a feeling something like that would happen today because I know the stadium well," said Barcelona coach Hansi Flick.

"Things didn't go too well for us but Dortmund played very well. But congratulations to my team, we're in the semifinals. We're happy. I'm really happy for the team and the club."