The job was simple. Avoid defeat and Aston Villa will be in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. What a crazy thought eh? I remember when Villa qualified for the competition last season and my wife (who doesn’t like or understand football too well) asked if we could win it. Of course, I laughed and told her that it was all about the journey and the experience. That would be a great achievement if we make it out of the initial league stage.
Yet, here we are. Villa welcomed Club Brugge to Villa Park for the third meeting between the two sides this season knowing they were 90 minutes away from a Champions League dream tie with Paris SG.
Unai Emery made three changes from the side that beat Brugge in Belgium last week with Matty Cash, Boubacar Kamara and Ian Maatsen starting. Marcus Rashford was also named in the starting line-up with Marco Asensio on the bench.
As expected, the visitors dominated the early proceedings without really threatening Emi Martinez in the Villa goal. Their only real chance of note came when Hans Vanaken beat Tyrone Mings to a cross from Ardon Jashari but his headed effort went wide of the goal.
Any hopes of a comeback for Blauw-Zwart were dashed after 15 minutes. Martinez played a long ball forward for Rashford but was taken down by Kyriani Sabbe. The referee was left with no choice but to show the 20-year-old a red card with him being the last man.
Youri Tielemans stepped up to take the resulting free-kick and forced a save out of former Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet.
Despite being down to ten men, Brugge made an effort but when Emery introduced Asensio and Leon Bailey, Villa stepped up a level.
Three minutes after the break, Rashford picked out Mings in the penalty area who turned his man before unleashing a shot at Mignolet who was once again equal to his effort.
Moments later, Villa killed the tie, if it wasn’t already dead when a move that started with Asensio finished with the Spaniard scoring after linking up with fellow sub Bailey to give Villa a 1-0 lead on the night.
Asensio could have doubled his tally on the night when Tielemans played a lovely through ball for the midfielder to run through on goal but he was denied by the post.
Villa’s tally was doubled just before the hour mark, Rashford linked up with Morgan Rogers before the latter was able to pick out an unmarked Maatsen who was able to slot home from close range.
The scoring was complete minutes later when Rashford was once again involved, received the ball from Rogers on the left wing, cut inside the box and then picked out Asensio to make it 6-1 on aggerate and confirm Villa’s place in the Champions League quarter-finals.
