Overview
After winning their first major title after decades, Aston Villa is aiming to go further in the Champions League, the playground they returned to 2 years ago.
In the 2024-2025 Champions League season, Aston Villa reached the quarter-finals before stopping before Paris Saint-Germain, who then won the championship. The following season, Unai Emery's team moved to the Europa League and won 13 out of 15 matches on the journey to the throne.
Emery is still the leader of Villa and is preparing to enter his ninth Champions League campaign in his career. However, the squad that once helped them achieve success has changed a lot. Many important players have left, forcing Emery to carry out a rebuilding process in the summer.
Aston Villa currently has a younger squad but still lacks cohesion. This is partly shown through the start of this season's Premier League. Villa lost to Brighton 0-4 in the opening match, continued to lose narrowly to Arsenal at home and then drew 0-0 at Hull City. After 3 rounds, they have only 1 point and have not scored a goal.
The personnel shuffle has prevented Emery from finding a stable operating formula for the new squad. The away trip to Club Brugge will give Villa the opportunity to regain the feeling of victory in the Champions League.
This is the third time Aston Villa has participated in the Champions League since winning the European C1 Cup in 1982. Meanwhile, Club Brugge is preparing to start their eighth Champions League campaign in the past 9 years.
Club Brugge just won the 13th Belgian national championship, thereby setting a new record for the number of championships and surpassing Anderlecht. This team also passed the group stage in all 3 recent Champions League appearances.
Last season, Club Brugge finished 19th in the group stage and had to play a knockout play-off, where they were defeated by Atletico Madrid with a total score of 4-7. The matches of the Belgian representative are usually open, averaging 4.2 goals per match.
Home attack is Club Brugge's strength. They scored at least 3 goals in 6/7 recent Champions League matches at Jan Breydelstadion. In the last 22 continental matches at home, Club Brugge has only suffered 3 defeats.
However, the history of confrontations with English teams does not bring many positive signs. The victory over Aston Villa in 2024 is the only time Club Brugge has defeated an English representative in the last 19 encounters. During this period, they have suffered 15 defeats.
The performance in the domestic league again gives Club Brugge more reason to be optimistic than Aston Villa. Ivan Leko's team started the season as the defending champion and is currently ranked second after 5 rounds, with 4 wins and 1 loss.
Expected lineup:
Club Brugge: Sommer, Sabbe, Mechele, Lee, Seys, Potts, Vanaken, Forbs, Vetlesen, Diakhon, Tresoldi.
Aston Villa: Suzuki, Cash, Lindelof, Torres, Maatsen, Kamara, Gomes, McGinn, Buendia, Hemmings, Jackson.
The match between Club Brugge and Aston Villa takes place at 11:45 PM on September 8th (Vietnam time).
