Aston Villa were 3-1 up after 43 minutes but were made to sweat for their first win of the season, emerging victorious from an entertaining Champions League opener against Club Brugge. John McGinn, who struck the only goal when Villa belatedly got their season up and running last September against Bologna, opened the scoring before goals from Emi Buendía and a first for Nicolas Jackson appeared to put Villa out of sight at half-time.
The Belgian side have become familiar foes since Villa returned to the big time, the glitziest club competition of them all; a freakish Tyrone Mings handball gifted the hosts a penalty, and subsequently victory, in 2024-25 and this time Aaron Wan-Bissaka conceded a second-half penalty to plunge a seesawing contest back into the balance. Villa had to live dangerously but equally could have won by a bigger margin.
Unai Emery had been at pains to radiate positivity despite another slow start – Villa picked up their first point of the Premier League season at the weekend and these goals represented their first of the campaign – but he was typically animated on the touchline here. He was particularly agitated midway through the second half when he felt, not for the first time this season, his substitutes were not ready for action. This time the culprits were Alysson, Ross Barkley and Lamare Bogarde.
Pau Torres was the unlikely catalyst for two of Villa’s three first half goals. McGinn’s opener was a product of the tall, softly-spoken Spanish centre-back roaming unchallenged to the edge of the box. Presumably it crossed Torres’s mind to shoot, though just as he was getting giddy, he spread play to McGinn, who guided a superb first-time, left-foot strike into the far corner of Yann Sommer’s goal. In starting here, the Switzerland goalkeeper became just the second goalkeeper to represent five clubs in the Champions League but it was a night to forget for the 37-year-old.
Club Brugge replied when Jan Virgili faced up Wan-Bissaka, this his full Villa debut, and located Hugo Vetlesen in the box, the Norway midfielder sending a crisp first-time finish beyond Zion Suzuki in the Villa goal. The hosts were level for less than three minutes, a slick Villa move culminating in Buendía wheeling away in celebration. Jackson’s deft backheel supplied the tigerish João Gomes, who twisted inside the box and then passed the ball on to Buendía to do the rest.
Villa’s third arrived a few minutes before the half-time interval. Emery punched the air, his delight at establishing a two-goal advantage plain. Torres collected the ball on the edge of the Villa 18-yard box and after a couple of touches to shift the ball out of his feet, he sent a lofted pass spinning into the opposition half, where Jackson got in between the opposition centre-backs, Lee Han-beom and Brandon Mechele. Enter Sommer, who raced about 40 yards from goal. Jackson swiped the ball clear of the goalkeeper and then was too strong for Lee before passing into an empty net.
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Things appeared rosy but Villa had to withstand heavy pressure after a video assistant referee review led the Swiss referee Sandro Schärer to penalise Wan-Bissaka for handball in the box. Nicolò Tresoldi sent Suzuki the wrong way from the penalty spot and a few minutes later the forward triggered a fine right-hand save from Suzuki, who pushed his shot on to the post. Victor Lindelöf tested the nerves of Emery, slicing a routine clearance when attempting to relieve the pressure. Villa, too, had chances, Jackson getting a shot away after latching on to a McGinn pass and Bogarde saw a shot cleared off the line by the Brugge full-back Joaquin Seys.