Aston Villa look to make a positive start to their UEFA Champions League knockout campaign on Tuesday evening, as they travel to Belgium to take on Club Brugge in the first leg of their round of 16 tie (ko 5.45pm GMT).
It's a repeat of the matchday four clash in this season's league phase at Jan Breydelstadion, where the hosts edged a tight affair thanks to Hans Vanaken's second-half penalty. Villa will be hoping for back-to-back wins, after booking their spot in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup on Friday evening with a 2-0 win over Cardiff City at Villa Park.
Unai Emery's side ended the league phase strongly, as Morgan Rogers' hat-trick capped off a memorable night in B6, with a 4-2 win over Celtic securing their place in the table's top eight and ensuring their passage directly through to the last 16 with a record of five wins, one draw and just two defeats.
Brugge, meanwhile, ended the league phase 24th, securing the final qualifying spot for the round of 32 play-offs. Once there, they impressively dispatched Italian favourites Atalanta - who finished ninth in the league phase table - 5-2 over two legs, with a blistering first half showing at Gewiss Stadium in the second leg effectively doing the damage.
Nicky Hayen's charges currently sit second in the Belgian Pro League, nine points behind leaders Genk, though have just one win in their last seven domestic outings.
Stats
Aston Villa’s Youri Tielemans is one of only three midfielders to have made 50+ line-breaking passes while under high-intensity pressure in the UEFA Champions League this season (53), along with Angelo Stiller (58) and Joshua Kimmich (54).
Chemsdine Talbi has been directly involved in three goals in his last two UEFA Champions League appearances for Club Brugge (two goals, one assist). No Belgian teenager has ever netted three goals in a single edition of the competition (Talbi on two in 2024/25).
Aston Villa will be the fourth different team Unai Emery has managed in the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League, following Valencia, Paris Saint-Germain and Villarreal. Only three managers have ever done so in charge of more than four: Carlo Ancelotti (6), José Mourinho (6) and Claudio Ranieri (5).
Among players remaining in the 2024/25 edition, Aston Villa’s Emiliano Martínez has prevented more goals than any other goalkeeper in the UEFA Champions League this season (+4.4 - six conceded from 10.4 xG on target faced). Indeed, the Argentinean has only been beaten with six of the 39 shots on target he’s faced in Europe this term (85% save percentage).
No team have scored more goals from outside the box than Aston Villa (5) in the UEFA Champions League this season. Of sides to score 10+ goals in a campaign, their percentage scored from outside the box (38% - 5/13) is the highest in a single edition since Villarreal in 2008/09 (38% - 5/13).
Club Brugge won both legs against Atalanta in the play-off round (2-1 at home, 3-1 away), while only once previously have they won three consecutive games in the UEFA Champions League - in September/October 2022 under Carl Hoefkens (3).
This will be Club Brugge's first knockout tie against English opposition in European competition since losing 6-1 on aggregate to Manchester United in the UEFA Europa League round of 32 in February 2020.
Across European competition, Club Brugge have won just one of their last 16 games against English opposition (D3 L12), conceding 42 goals during that time. The Belgian side's only victory in that time did come against Aston Villa, however, 1-0 in this season's league phase.
Aston Villa have faced Belgian opposition five times before in European competition, winning just one of those encounters (D1 L3), a 1-0 victory vs Anderlecht in the European Cup in April 1982.
Aston Villa will meet Club Brugge for just the second time in European competition, with the first meeting between the two sides also coming in the UEFA Champions League this season, a 1-0 league phase win for Club Brugge at the Jan Breydel Stadium.
The Last Meeting
The two sides locked horns for the first time in history earlier this season, on matchday four of the Champions League league phase.
Villa fell to their first defeat of this season's competition, after what had been a perfect start to the campaign up to that point, with nine points from three games and none conceded.
It was a scrappy affair at Jan Breydelstadion, where Unai Emery's side proved unable to breach a stubborn Belgian defence. The hosts took all three points in the 52nd minute thanks to Hans Vanaken's penalty, awarded in unusual circumstances after Tyrone Mings had handled Emi Martínez's goal kick.
Team News
Villa are boosted by the return of Pau Torres, Tyrone Mings and Matty Cash to their squad for the game.
The trio return to contention at Jan Breydelstadion along with midfielder Boubacar Kamara, who was an unused substitute against the Bluebirds following his return from injury.
Marcus Rashford, Marco Asensio and Axel Disasi could make their Champions League debuts for the club, however fellow recent arrivals Andrés García and Donyell Malen, as well as Jamaldeen Jimoh-Aloba, are not included in Villa’s European squad list.
Injured duo Amadou Onana and Ross Barkley also remain sidelined and miss out against the Blauw-Zwart.
Brugge's main injury concerns relate to midfielder Raphael Onyedika, who missed Saturday's draw with Gent with a muscular issue, and right-back Joaquin Seys, who Nicky Hayen confirmed would miss the clash. Defender Bjorn Meier is likely to remain out, having been sidelined since the end of January.
Captain Vanaken, whose penalty decided the tight league phase encounter, is likely to start the clash, having played every minute of this season's Champions League campaign thus far.
Managers' Pre-Match Thoughts
“When we played here we weren’t competing like I want to do. The players know and we analysed why we didn’t compete in that moment like we can hopefully do tomorrow. Firstly is knowing them better and trying to compete, stopping them – collectively, in their game plan, individually. And then trying to get the best of us in our structure, in our game plan, feeling comfortable in our positions. Then, playing football is the next step tomorrow, trying to do our best being motivated, being excited, getting balance emotionally and playing good football.”
Unai Emery
“We are not going to point to one player because they have more than just Rashford and Asensio as quality players. Before they joined they still had really good results. It doesn’t change. They have more quality now in their squad which makes them stronger than before.”
Nicky Hayen