Fixtures
- Club Brugge Vs. Aston Villa – Wed, Nov 6th 2024, 17:45
Aston Villa will look to maintain a perfect start in the UEFA Champions League league when travelling to Belgium to face Club Brugge on Wednesday (ko 5.45pm UK), in the first-ever meeting between the two teams.
Unai Emery’s men are one of only two sides in this season’s competition to have won all of their opening three games, after a victory away at BSC Young Boys on Matchday One was followed by triumphs at Villa Park over Bayern Munich and Bologna.
Villa now look to become only the fourth side in history to win their first four matches in the Champions League, and the first to do so without conceding a single goal.
Club Brugge have competed in Europe’s elite competition in six of the past seven seasons, the exception being last time out, where they instead reached the semi-finals of the Europa Conference League.
They currently sit second in the Belgian Pro League with four-straight wins in domestic competitions, having won the Champions’ play-offs last season to claim their 19th top-flight title.
In the Champions League, defeats to Borussia Dortmund and AC Milan and a win against Sturm Graz leave them 26th in the table approaching the halfway stage of the league phase.
Stats
Morgan Rogers has completed 16 dribbles for Aston Villa in the UEFA Champions League this season, with this the most on record by an English player since 2003/04, through the opening three games of a single campaign.
Among goalkeepers to play 2,500+ minutes in UEFA Champions League history, Club Brugge’s Simon Mignolet has the worst minutes per goal conceded ratio (one every 46 minutes). He did keep a clean sheet in his last game against Aston Villa back in February 2016, in a 6-0 Premier League win with Liverpool.
Aston Villa midfielder Amadou Onana has completed 51 of his 52 pass attempts while under high-intensity pressure in the UEFA Champions League this season (98.1%). Of players to attempt at least 20+ such passes, this was the highest completion rate of any player across the first three matchdays this term.
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery has faced Belgian opponents four times before in the UEFA Champions League, keeping a clean sheet each time (W3 D1) – he has won his last three games by an aggregate score of 16-0 (Valencia 7-0 Genk in 2011, Anderlecht 0-4 PSG and PSG 5-0 Anderlecht both in 2017).
The only two teams in the UEFA Champions League this season who have both had the number of shots they have faced are Aston Villa (41) and Club Brugge (40).
Across Club Brugge’s last 15 UEFA Champions League matches, they have either conceded 2+ goals (nine games, 35 conceded) or kept a clean sheet (six games). Since the start of 2022/23, only Internazionale (63%) have a higher clean sheet rate than Brugge (6/11, 55%) among teams to feature in more than one campaign.
Aston Villa have won their first three UEFA Champions League matches without conceding a goal. Only three teams have won their first four games: Milan in 1993, Paris Saint-Germain in 1994 and Juventus in 1995, none of whom did so with a clean sheet in each game.
Club Brugge have lost their last three home UEFA Champions League matches, failing to score in each game while conceding nine goals. They have only lost four in a row once, between 2016 and 2018.
Aston Villa’s last meeting with a Belgian opponent was in 1981/82 European Cup semi-final against RSC Anderlecht, winning 1-0 at home and drawing 0-0 away on their way to lifting the trophy that year.
Club Brugge have never previously faced Aston Villa in any competition. They are winless in 14 European games (including qualifiers) against English clubs, drawing three and losing 11 since a 1-0 win over Chelsea in the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1995.
Matchday Three
Club Brugge fell to defeat in their third game of the league phase, losing 3-1 away at AC Milan.
Despite starting the stronger and hitting the crossbar in the opening 10 minutes, the Belgians trailed at half-time after Christian Pulisic’s opener direct from a corner, and a red card for Raphael Onyedika.
The 10 players of Brugge came out fighting after the break at the San Siro, and drew level shortly after the restart through Kyriani Sabbe.
But Milan found an extra gear after the hour mark, as a brace from Tijjani Reijnders secured the points for the Italian outfit and left Club Brugge 26th in the league table.
Team News
Unai Emery revealed in his pre-match press conference that Villa will be without the services of Matty Cash and Ross Barkley for the clash.
Barkley was missing for the weekend’s trip to Spurs, while Cash limped off after an hour in North London. The Lions are otherwise fully fit and available.
Club Brugge head coach Nicky Hayen confirmed Romeo Vermant and Ferran Jutglà would both be fit for the Belgian outfit.
This means the hosts are only expected to be missing Gustaf Nilsson, who has a persistent achillies problem, and Raphael Onyedika, who will serve a one-match suspension following his dismissal against Milan in Matchday Three.
Managers’ Pre-Match Thoughts
“It is a very good opponent, to try to come back again with our successful way in this competition, being organised, competing like we are competing, being consistent, and getting points. “To beat Brugge here [will be difficult], and the players know, because we had our own experiences in Europe last year, and we can remember our own experiences.” – Unai Emery
“Aston Villa are leaders and have not conceded a single goal so far, but it is crucial that we believe in our chances and give everything from the first whistle to keep those three points at home. We want to start the match against Aston Villa as sharply as the previous matches. We know they play with high intensity and press a lot, but if we can break their first line, chances will come for us. The goal is not only to put on a strong match, but also to win.” – Nicky Hayen
