Match report: Club Brugge 2-3 Aston Villa
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.
Related: First-half treble powers Aston Villa to Champions League win at Club Brugge
Still want more? Bet you do.
Whether it’s through relief or exhaustion, Unai Emery and his team will sleep well tonight. They were made to work Brugge, who contributed fully to an enjoyably open game. Ultimately Villa were a bit more clinical and won the game through first-half goals from John McGinn, Emi Buendia and Nicolas Jackson.
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Full time: Club Brugge 2-3 Aston Villa
Aston Villa have won their first game of the season!
90+3 min Tresoldi’s speculative ball into the area is booted clear by Lindelof. Brugge come again. Forbs’ cross from the other side is headed towards goal by Tresoldi, 12 yards out, and Suzuki makes a comfortable save.
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90+2 min Villa have parked the bus, and why not.
90+1 min Four minutes of added time.
90 min Joao Gomes is booked for a foul.
88 min Vermany is booked for a foul on the impressive Hemmings. Brugge are trying to force one last period of pressure, but at the moment Villa are managing the game pretty well.
86 min: Double substitution for Brugge Mamadou Diakhon and Romeo Vermant replace Jan Virgili and Freddie Potts.
84 min Barkley gives the ball away on the edge of the Villa area and is grateful for some excellent covering by Maatsen and another player whose name must be withheld because I’ve no idea who it was.
83 min That Bogarde shot was Villa’s 20th attempt at goal tonight, eight on target.
82 min: Seys clears off the line! The resulting corner is cleared as far as Bogarde, whose early shot from 15 yards beats Sommer and is kicked off the line by Seys!
81 min: Villa substitution Tammy Abraham replaces the superb Nicolas Jackson.
81 min Joao Gomes makes a brilliant run into the Brugge area, then chops back inside onto his right foot. He has McGinn in all kinds of space on the far side but instead hits a shot that deflects behind for a corner. Should’ve passed.
79 min Villa have restored some order in the last few minutes. They’re certainly not safe, but at least they aren’t conceding a chance a minute.
78 min McGinn is booked for something or other, probably a tactical foul. I’ll level with you: I was looking up the spelling of Felix Lemarechal when it happened.
77 min: Brugge substitutions Cheveyo Tsawa and Felix La PuBelle Lemarechal replace Hans Vanaken and Hugo Vetlesen.
76 min Blimey, there hasn’t been a chance at either end for at least 90 seconds.
74 min Lindelof does brilliantly to stretch towards his own goal and slice a dangerous cross away from Tresoldi. He had to make that or it could have been 3-3.
72 min Hemmings slides an extremely inviting ball that rolls right across the face of goal. Alysson tries to get there at the far post but takes a shortcut through Seys and is penalised.
70 min McGinn leads a Villa break and plays a gentle through pass to Jackson, who smacks a shot on the run with his left foot. Sommer is well positioned and saves to his left.
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Tresoldi hits the post!
69 min The resulting corner, on the left, is clipped to the near post. Tresoldi gets up early and flicks a close-range header against the post, with the ball rebounding into the loving arms of Suzuki.
Edit: replays show that Suzuki spilled Tresoldi’s header onto the post, after which is looped back into his arms.
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69 min: Triple substitution for Villa Ross Barkley, Lamara Bogarde and Alysson replace Boubacar Kamara, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Emi Buendia.
68 min Vetlesen sweeps a shot from the edge of the area that bounces awkwardly and is pushed behind by Suzuki.
67 min A chest-volley from Seys is blocked by Kamara, who is on his backside eight yards from goal but sticks out a leg to crucial effect.
65 min Seys drags a cutback towards Tresoldi at the near post. He tries to flick the ball behind his standing leg but gets it wrong.
Villa are under serious pressure now.
64 min Jackson plays an excellent reverse pass to put the marauding Maatsen through on goal, but he has a long way to run and the Brugge defenders eventually catch up with him on the edge of the area.
62 min Virgili is booked for pulling back McGinn.
GOAL! Club Brugge 2-3 Aston Villa (Tresoldi 61 pen)
The in-form Nicolo Tresoldi sidefoots a low penalty to his right. It wasn’t in the corner but Suzuki went the wrong way.
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60 min: Penalty to Club Brugge! A quick look at the monitor, penalty given. It’s the correct decision in accordance with the laws, even if 99.94% of ex-footballers would say it’s a nonsense.
60 min Wan-Bissaka left arm was raised and slightly away from his body. In Europe, this is usually a penalty.
59 min: VAR check Seys whacks a cross that flattens Wan-Bissaka and goes behind for a corner. Seys appeals for a penalty, and he might get it via VAR.
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55 min The impressive Virgili slithers into the area from the left and lends the ball to Tresoldi. He returns it with a smart backheel but Virgili is crowded out by Villa defenders.
54 min A swift Villa break ends with Hemmings finding the onrushing Buendia, whose cross-shot is blocked at source.
53 min Maatsen slides in to partially block Forbs’ cross from the right side of the area. The ball loops up and is clutched by Suzuki.
52 min Plenty of Brugge possession at the start of the second half. It’s all in front of Villa, though, and Nicolas Jackson has already shown how dangerous he can be in transition.
50 min There are four Champions League games after this, including FC Porto v Manchester City and Real Madrid v Internazionale, plus some Carabao Cup action.
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48 min Vanaken is booked for diving in the Villa area.
47 min Brugge have made a change at half-time: Hugo Siquet is on for Kyriani Sabbe.
46 min Peep peep! Club Brugge begin the second half.
Half-time reading
Related: David Squires on … Lionel Messi enjoying his true passion after Argentina retirement
Half time: Club Brugge 1-3 Aston Villa
The report of Aston Villa’s death was an exaggeration. Their new team have played splendidly in Brugge and lead 3-1 thanks to goals from John McGinn, Emi Buendia and the outstanding Nicolas Jackson.
45 min Buendia sees Sommer farting around in no man’s land again and tries to drive a chip over him from 40 yards. Sommer backpedals to make an uncomfortable save.
Man, Jackson deserves this for a terrific centre-forward’s performance. Pau Torres won the ball on the edge of the Villa area and launched an early ball over the halfway line towards Jackson. Sommer charged miles out of his area, thinking he could beat Jackson to the ball. Wrong! Jackson kneed it past him, outpaced the covering defenders and slid the ball into the empty net.
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GOAL! Club Brugge 1-3 Aston Villa (Jackson 43)
Nicolas Jackson scores his first goal for Villa!
42 min Forbs wins the ball high up the field and thrashes a rising drive from 20 yards that is beaten away by Suzuki. Comfortable save but a good effort. Brugge look lively in attack.
40 min Wan-Bissaka clips a flat cross towards Jackson at the far post. He stretches away from goal to hook an imaginative volley that bounces a few yards wide. A good effort from Jackson, who has been outstanding in the first half.
39 min Instead it’s a corner to Brugge, from which Villa break dangerously. Buendia’s sliderule pass looks set to put Jackson clear from the halfway line, only for the ball to hold up slightly on the wet pitch. That allows Brugge to get back and clear the danger.
38 min The home fans appeal for a penalty when Virgili’s cross hits the arm of Kamara. It was by his side and nothing is given.
36 min Virgili wriggles away from McGinn on the edge of the area. But then, for once, he picks the wrong option and drills a cross-shot into the side netting. The angle was too tight for that kind of funny business.
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34 min “I was at the LSE in the 1980s with Hugo Vetlesen’s dad Johan, an excellent footballer himself, whose career was ended by a bad knee injury,” writes Allan Castle. “Hence the deviation into graduate education. We’ve stayed in touch here and there since then. As far as I can tell, the whole family is football mad; Hugo’s sister is also very good. Thanks to his parents’ tireless support of his career, I’ve been able to follow Hugo‘s journey vicariously from Stabaek to Bodø/Glimt to Club Brugge.
“I mention this for no good reason other than to muse about what a nice family Hugo has, to reflect on the sacrifices that whole families have to make for a career at the top level to happen; and also that I’m glad for my old friend that his son is playing in the Champions League these days. It’s nice when good things happen to good people.”
32 min The speedy Carlos Forbs, once of Wolves, scoots past Maatsen on the right. His cutback is read and intercepted by Kamara.
Villa break and McGinn’s curler from 25 yards is pushed away by Sommer. It bounced awkwardly in front of Sommer, who took no chances and got rid of it quicksmart.
28 min The last few minutes have been relatively quiet. Brugge are trying to get their bearings after going behind for a second time.
25 min It’s easy to see why there’s so much excitement about Brugge’s young Spanish winger Jan Virgili. He’s a smooth, head-up dribbler who has already caused Aaron Wan-Bissaka – generally an excellent defender one v one – plenty of problems.
23 min Whether Buendia mishit that shot or not, the build up was terrific. The gentlemen involved, Nicolas Jackson and Joao Gomes, have both started superbly.
Emi Buendia hase restored Villa’s lead! Jackson held the ball up well and found the onrushing Joao Gomes with a deft backheel. Gomes moved into the area, turned back inside Vetlesen and picked out Buendia. He stunned the ball into the ground – I don’t think it was deliberate – and through the left hand of Sommer.
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GOAL! Club Brugge 1-2 Aston Villa (Buendia 22)
The Champions League’s back, baby!
GOAL! Club Brugge 1-1 Aston Villa (Vetlesen 19)
The impressive Virgili beat Wan-Bissaka through sleight of hip and slid a precise low pass towards the unmarked Vetlesen 15 yards from goal. He swept an accomplished first-time shot across Suzuki and into the corner.
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19 min Mechele’s snapshot from the edge of the area beats one Villa player and is blocked by a second. No matter, because seconds later…
17 min “If you ask me,” says Peter Oh, “Colin Farrell would be the perfect actor to play John McGinn in a smash-and-grab thriller set in Bruges!”
We shall strike a balance between culture and fun.
15 min: Chance for Hemmings! Villa are rampant. Joao Gomes wins the ball high up the field on the left, moves into the area and knocks the ball back to Hemmings. He takes the shot early with the outside of his right foot and the ball fades just wide of the far post.
15 min Buendia’s free-kick hits the wall.
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13 min Another dodgy handball in a Brugge v Villa game! After collecting that corner, Sommer ran to the edge of the area in an attempt to launch a counter-attack. The ball slipped out of his hand as he shaped to throw, and he instinctively stopped it with his spare left hand. Villa have a free-kick right on the edge of the area…
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13 min: Good save by Sommer! George Hemmings almost makes it two. He received a return pass from Jackson, moved into the area and sidefooted a left-foot shot across goal. Sommer reacted smartly to get down to his left and push it away.
The resulting corner is headed towards goal by Kamara and held by Sommer.
Pau Torres won the ball near the halfway line, strode to the edge of the area and pushed the ball outside to McGinn. He curled a nonchalant first-time shot that beat Yann Sommer and nestled in the far corner. At first I thought Sommer might have misread it, but replays showed that McGinn’s shot could barely have been more precise. That’s a fine goal.
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GOAL! Club Brugge 0-1 Aston Villa (McGinn 11)
John McGinn gives Villa the lead!
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9 min Maatsen punches the air in frustration when a throw-in is awarded to Brugge. He’s booked. Moments later, Virgili flips a curler from the left side of the area that is pushed away to his left by Suzuki.
The save itself was comfortable but Suzuki did well to push it away from the onrushing Brugge forwards.
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8 min Virgili twists Wan-Bissaka’s blood and clips a cross that is booted away at the far post by Hemmings. The game is being played at a cracking pace.
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7 min Club Brugge’s first good attack. Virgili plays a return ball to the underlapping left-back Seys, whose dangerous cross is headed behind for a corner. Of which nothing comes.
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5 min “I don’t get why Rodri isn’t the odds-on favorite to win the Ballon d’Or,” writes Kári Tulinius. “He’s won it before, so we know the voters rate him, and he led his country to a World Cup title. It still would feel a bit weird to have Rodri join the ranks of multiple Ballon d’Or winners, not because I don’t think he’s great, but because I can’t think of many moments when he made me feel glad to be alive, like the others on that elite list.”
His G+A is pathetic. (I agree it should be him.)
4 min Villa have made a fast start and are snapping the ball around confidently.
2 min: Buendia goes close Wan-Bissaka feeds the ball into McGinn in the area. He uses his abundant derriere to hold off a defender and lays the ball off to Buendia, who whips a curler just wide from 18 yards. Nice effort.
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1 min Peep peep! Nicolas Jackson kicks off for Villa, who are attacking from right to left as we watch.
The players are in the tunnel. It’s almost time for the 2026-27 Champions League league stage to begin.
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Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham and Declan Rice have been nominated for this year’s men’s Ballon d’Or while Alessia Russo and Alex Greenwood have been nominated for the women’s award.
The 30 men’s and 30 women’s nominees were revealed by France Football magazine on Tuesday, with the winners to be announced at a ceremony in London on 26 October. Ousmane Dembélé, who won the men’s award last year, has been nominated again, as has his France teammate Kylian Mbappé, who made history when he overtook Lionel Messi for all-time World Cup goals (22) at this summer’s tournament.
Related: Harry Kane and Alessia Russo among nominees for this year’s Ballon d’Or
“Rob, I’m fuming,” says Charles Antaki, casually chinning a passing septuagenarian to reinforce the point. “Absolutely fuming. Nothing to do with Club Brugge or dear old Aston Villa – good luck to them both by the way and may the better team win – no, what’s got my goat is that I seem to have been left off the memo about Gianni Infantino. Only 100,000 signatories? Pshaw. Whoever was in charge of the mail-out has dropped an utter clanger there.”
Can’t we all just chill, relax?
Unai Emery’s pre-match thoughts
Matty Cash is not available because he had more pain yesterday. We signed Wan-Bissaka [for situations like this] and he is ready to play. The other changes are rotation.
[Club Brugge] are playing very well at home. They play lots of passes, including the goalkeeper. The Champions League is very difficult but we are ready for it.
Villa’s last Champions League campaign two years ago included a couple of trips to Bruges. They lost 1-0 in the league stage – remember Tyrone Mings’ strange handball – and won 3-1 in the round of 16.
Related: Aston Villa close on quarter-finals after Mings gets his own back on Club Brugge
A delve into the history of the Champions League shows that managers can and do win in their first season at a club, but also that experience matters. Which makes it interesting, given that tenures for the 2026‑27 crop range from newly appointed coaches to one with almost 15 years in charge. Some have managed more than 100 matches in the competition, others none.
It gets under way on Tuesday with 14 of the 36 clubs led by managers who have been in the role for less than a year. It cannot match the turnover of the Premier League, in which 11 of 20 managers were appointed in 2026, but the tenures of the head coaches involved this season break down neatly.
Related: Champions League is fertile ground for new managers – but knowhow could be key later on
Aston Villa's Champions League fixtures
Club Brugge (A)
Fenerbahce (H)
Viking FK (H)
Barcelona (A)
Galatasaray (A)
PSG (H)
Borussia Dortmund (H)
Slavia Prague (A)
♫ ♪ 🎵 🎶 The champions ♫ ♪ 🎵 🎶! Bigger Cup is back, baby! Red-hot action from the world’s premier club competition across Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Bigger Vase and Tin Pot clubs must wait for their slice of European action until after an international break almost as long as the Geopolitics World Cup itself. Rather like Gianni Infantino’s North American investment roadshow, Bigger Cup, with its revolving Swiss system, 36 teams reduced to 24 following 114 matches, has become baggier than MC Hammer’s trousers [now there’s a reference for the young readers – Football Daily Ed]. Back in Clive Tyldesley’s ITV pomp, ties such as Liverpool v Atlético, Napoli v Arsenal, and Real Madrid v Inter moved the dial, filling boozers and column inches.
Now, paywalled away and despite the whir of Darren Fletcher and Ally McCoist’s unrelenting hype machine, these nights can feel more routine, a golden goose not so much terminated as gathering dust on the mantelpiece. A trinket retaining monetary value but not as cherished as it once was. That holders PSG are so minted they can afford to play separate teams across Ligue 1 and Bigger Cup says much about modern football, where clubs and competitions have become content providers feeding an attention economy. In this case, that attention will run a deficit until, just like the GWC, the juice is in the knockout stages. There are, though, different dimensions to take solace in.
Related: Football Daily | Forget the hype machine – it’s the minnows who offer European interest
Unai Emery is not panicking. He may kick every ball on the touchline but, behind closed doors, Aston Villa’s players are used to him being the calmest person in the room, routinely more demanding after victory than defeat. John McGinn tells a story in which the Villa manager, early in his now almost four-year tenure, broke character and lost his cool during a half-time interval not owing to a lukewarm performance but because he witnessed his captain tearing into teammates. In Emery’s eyes, it was McGinn expending unnecessary energy rather than seeking solutions.
Emery, McGinn and Villa have been here before. Just last season, in fact; at this point, they were pointless in the Premier Leagueand still another 157 minutes from registering their first goal. So in one sense Villa, who shook off a slow start to qualify for the Champions League for the second time in three seasons, are ahead of schedule. Villa’s goalless draw at Hull on Saturday was not the most absorbing display but there were enough green shoots to trust Emery when he says he is confident they can again exceed expectations.
Related: Emery ready to ignite Aston Villa’s season at Club Brugge after familiar slow start
Team news
Joao Gomes returns from suspension to replace Ross Barkley in the Villa midfield. That’s one of three changes to the side that drew 0-0 at Hull on Saturday. Pau Torres and Aaron Wan-Bissaka come in for Tyrone Mings and the injured Matt E. Cash. That means the exciting teenager George Hemmings will make his Champions League debut.
Club Brugge (4-2-3-1) Sommer; Sabbe, Han-beom Lee, Mechele, Seys; Vetlesen, Potts; Carlos Forbs, Vanaken, Virgil; Tresoldi.
Subs: Jackers, Vanden Driessche, Tsawa, Vermant, Mike, Siquet, Coulibaly, Spileers, L Audoor, Diakhon, Vasovic, Lemarechal.
Aston Villa (4-2-3-1) Suzuki; Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Pau Torres, Maatsen; Joao Gomes, Kamara; McGinn, Buendia, Hemmings; Jackson.
Subs: Bizot, Wright, Mings, Barkley, Ruggeri, Garnacho, Abraham, Mbaye, Bogarde, Alysson.
Referee Sandro Scharer.
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Preamble
The Champions League’s back, baby! A lot has changed since Paris Saint-Germain retained the giant trophy in May – not least at Villa Park. Aston Villa covered themselves in glory at the end of lsat season, qualifying for the Champions League on two fronts, but six of the XI that started their Europa League final victory over Freiburg have been pinched by other clubs.
No team can be de-spined without suffering the consequences, and Villa have had a tough start to the Premier League season: three games, one point, no goals. You’d expect Unai Emery to navigate the necessary transition, and we shouldn’t forget that Villa had an equally poor start last season. But for now the mood around the club might reasonably described as sub-optimal.
Villa start their Champions League in feckin Bruges, where they face the Belgian runners-up Club Brugge. Do they have to win? Of course they don’t haveta! But a victory – even a goal – would make everyone at Villa feel a bit better.
Kick off 5.45pm.
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