The Champions League returns this week and there are several tasty matchups to get stuck into. One which will certainly be worthwhile watching is Club Brugge vs Aston Villa, which kicks off in the early slot Tuesday evening (that’s 12:45pm ET / 9:45am PT in the United States). Happily, this kickoff time doesn’t conflict with the other key feature tomorrow: Real Madrid vs. Inter Milan.
Both sides have had contrasting starts to their domestic campaigns thus far which lends an unmistakable air of tension and gravity to what would otherwise be a typical Champions League opener.
Napoli vs. Arsenal and Liverpool vs. Atlético Madrid are two other monster fixtures, but you’ll have to wait until Wednesday for those.
Unai Emery desperately needs a victory
Three Premier League games, zero wins and zero goals scored. That is the tale of the tape at Villa Park in the top flight this season.
Of course, the club were in a similar predicament at the beginning of last season, failing to win any of their first five league matches, before ultimately finishing fourth and winning the Europa League.
Things feel differently this year, however. Six of the players that started that Europa League final victory have now left (along with eight others), earning the club over $200M in revenue. Still, Unai Emery has done some solid business in the transfer window, with Ibrahim Mbaye (PSG), Leon Gotetzka (Bayern Munich), Zion Suzuki (Parma) and Nicolas Jackson (Chelsea) among the standouts. Still, after this start many are asking: was it enough?
A trip to Belgium represents a chance for Villa to seal their maiden victory of the campaign. Emery guided his men to two wins over Brugge in March 2025 in this very competition, with the first of those victories coming at the Jan Breydel Stadium.
Getting their Champions League campaign off to a winning start could well be the catalyst that Emery so urgently requires.
Club Brugge eye more progress in the Champions League
Only once since the start of the 2018/19 season have Club Brugge failed to reach the group stages of Europe’s premier club competition.
That was in 2023/24 and even then Brugge reached the semi-finals of the Conference League, indicating how well they perform on the continent.
The Belgians reached the round of 16 during the 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons, while suffering a 7-4 aggregate loss to Atlético Madrid in the knockout playoff round last term.
As such, finishing in the top-24 is surely the bare minimum for Ivan Leko, especially as they face a few winnable ties on paper.
Two years ago, Brugge defeated Villa at home in the group stages of this competition and have since beaten Marseille and Monaco while also drawing 3-3 with Barcelona.
With four wins from five Belgian Pro League matches, Brugge currently sit third and they enter this opening Champions League tie in solid enough form.
There is perhaps no better time to be facing Villa. Should the likes of Nicolo Tresoldi, Mamadou Diakhon and Carlos Forbs click, Emery’s men will have a tough time of it on Tuesday evening.
Team news
For Aston Villa, Johan Manzambi and Amadou Onana are both injured for this clash. João Gomes is available, with his red-card suspension only coming into effect in domestic matches. Taylor-Harwood Bellis and Brian Madjo have both been omitted from Emery’s Champions League squad rather surprisingly, although the latter is currently injured.
Joel Ordoñez is the only injury absentee for Brugge ahead of this clash as Leko has a near-full strength squad to choose from.
Prediction
This is a tough match to call. Normally, Villa would be firm favorites to bring back all three points, but their recent form suggests otherwise. Aside from a goal in the UEFA Super Cup final against PSG, Villa haven’t scored across 270 minutes of Premier League action thus far.
Combine this ineffectiveness in front of goal with a defence that has conceded five goals in three league matches suggests Brugge will fancy their chances, especially with home advantage.
With bigger tests to come for both sides, I fancy each team to grab a point:
Club Brugge 1 – 1 Aston Villa.
