Aston Villa look to book their place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League at Villa Park on Wednesday evening, when they host Club Brugge in the second leg of their round of 16 tie (ko 8pm GMT).
Unai Emery's men take a healthy advantage into the clash in B6, after coming away from Bruges with a 3-1 first-leg victory last Tuesday - goals from Leon Bailey, Marco Asensio and an own goal doing the damage.
It will be the third time these two sides have taken on one another in history, with both the other two meetings coming in this season's competition. Villa's first-leg success avenged the defeat they fell to in the league phase at Jan Breydelstadion, as Hans Vanaken's second-half penalty sealed the points for the Belgian outfit back in November.
In order to secure a place in this competition's last eight for the first time since their last campaign, in 1982/83, Emery's charges will have to overcome a tricky test against Blauw-Zwart, who currently sit second in the Jupiler Pro League.
Since the first leg, they have put another three points on the domestic board, winning 3-1 at Cercle Brugge on Sunday, while Villa themselves are chasing a fourth-straight win in all competitions, after triumphing 1-0 on the road at Brentford in Premier League action on Saturday evening.
Stats
Marco Asensio has scored 10 UEFA Champions League goals in 50 games as a substitute (both more than any other player), netting Aston Villa’s third goal from the spot in the first leg. As a starter in 20 games, Asensio has scored three goals from 46 shots (6.5%), compared to 10 goals from 49 shots as a sub (20.4%).
Hans Vanaken could make his 50th UEFA Champions League appearance in this game and would be the ninth Belgian player to play 50 games. He’ll be the first Club Brugge player to make 50 Champions League appearances; he has played in every single game for the club since the 2016/17 campaign, with only Lautaro Martínez for Inter (51 apps) on a longer current run of consecutive games for a club.
Aston Villa are looking to become the first side to reach the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League in their debut season since Atalanta in 2019/20. Five English teams have achieved that – Chelsea in 1999/00, Leeds in 2000/01 (semi-final), Liverpool in 2001/02, Spurs in 2010/11 and Leicester in 2016/17.
Club Brugge won their previous away game in the UEFA Champions League, beating Atalanta 3-1 in the play-off round in February. They’ve never previously won consecutive away games in the European Cup/Champions League.
Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has only lost three of his last 19 home games in the UEFA Champions League (W11 D5), across spells with four different clubs. Indeed, he’s unbeaten in his four home matches in the competition in charge of his current club (W3 D1).
Club Brugge have lost the first leg at home in six previous major European ties and have been eliminated on each occasion. Overall, they’ve been knocked out in nine of their last 10 ties when losing the first leg, with the other in the Conference League last season in the last 16 against Molde (1-2 first leg, 3-0 second leg).
Aston Villa have progressed from 12 of their previous 14 major European ties when they’ve won the first leg – the others were in the 1990/91 UEFA Cup vs Inter (2-0 first leg, 0-3 second leg) and 1998/99 UEFA Cup vs Celta Vigo (1-0 first leg, 3-1 second leg).
Aston Villa could become the ninth different English side to qualify for a UEFA Champions League quarter-final, which would be the most teams from a single nation to have done so (England currently level with Spain on eight).
Club Brugge have never won away in England in major European competition in 14 attempts (D2 L12), losing their last five visits. Only Anderlecht (18) and Dynamo Kyiv (15) have played more in England without ever winning.
Aston Villa last hosted a Belgian side in any European competition back in April 1982 in the European Cup semi-final against Anderlecht, winning 1-0 with a goal from Tony Morley on their way to winning the trophy.
The First Leg
Villa will take a 3-1 advantage into the second leg, after a successful trip to Bruges a week and a day ago.
Things got off to the perfect start for Unai Emery's men when Leon Bailey struck just two minutes and 14 seconds into the first leg, breaking the record for Aston Villa's fastest-ever Champions League goal for the third time this campaign.
Club Brugge however levelled soon after, when Maxim De Cuyper struck with a first-time effort just nine minutes later.
But the Villans kept plugging away until the end, Morgan Rogers forcing an own-goal from Brandon Mechele eight minutes from time, before substitute Marco Asensio stepped up to convert a penalty with two minutes to play, after Matty Cash had been fouled inside the area.
Team News
Villa will have Emi Martínez and Marco Asensio both back available for the clash, after the pair missed Saturday's win over Brentford, though Andrés García and Donyell Malen are again ineligible.
Amandou Onana is closing in on a return from injury, but Ross Barkley remains sidelined.
Defender Bjorn Meier and right-back Joaquin Seys both remain out for Nicky Hayen's side with respective hamstring issues.
Captain Hans Vanaken is in line to make his 50th appearance in the Champions League, and would become the first Club Brugge player in history to reach this landmark, should he feature at Villa Park.
Managers' Pre-Match Thoughts
“Nothing changes. We are respecting them a lot. We have our own experiences, myself and the players as well, in our careers. Tomorrow anything could happen. It’s a football match and a lot of things can happen in 90 minutes. The match can change so quickly.”
Unai Emery
“If we did not believe in it, we would not be here. You always have to believe. We still believe we can do it. We can turn it around in as tough a way as possible. The only thing we know is we really believe in our own chances. Even if it is a small percentage, we still believe.”
Nicky Hayen