Soccer
Aston Villa kick off Champions League campaign by winning five-goal thriller
Aston Villa put their goalscoring woes aside as they scored three first-half goals to start their Champions League campaign with a 3-2 victory over Club Brugge.
Unai Emery’s side failed to score in their opening three Premier League matches of the season, but wasted no time in opening their European account, striking three times in Bruges.
John McGinn became Villa’s all-time leading goalscorer in major European competitions, overtaking Ollie Watkins when he curled his side in front before the hosts were soon on level terms through Hugo Vetlesen’s equaliser.
Villa did not look like a team that were struggling in front of goal and they hit the front once again through Emi Buendia before summer signing Nicolas Jackson grabbed his first goal for the club to lead 3-1 at half-time.
Nicolo Tresoldi’s penalty halved deficit in the second period and Club Brugge pushed hard for an equaliser, but the visitors managed to hang on for their first win of the season in all competitions.
Aston Villa only managed one shot on target from first three games, but registered nine at the Jan Breydel Stadium which will be a welcome sign for Emery.
The hosts forced the first effort on target in the ninth minute as Jan Virgili sent a curling effort towards goal, which Zion Suzuki needed to deal with.
However, Villa went down the other end and opened the scoring as Pau Torres surged through midfield and laid the ball off for McGinn, who excellently placed the ball into the bottom left corner for his 12th goal in European competitions.
They had the taste for more too. Joao Gomes played a neat one-two with Jackson and the former poked one towards goal, which needed to be tipped behind by Yann Sommer.
Sommer then gave a bizarre free-kick away outside his own penalty area. As he looked to throw the ball out, he changed his mind but then caught the ball again outside the box which led to a free-kick and ultimately came to nothing.
The home side got themselves on level terms in the 19th minute – Virgili picked out Vetlesen inside the area and he finished well.
It was not long before the English side retook the lead, Gomes and Jackson were involved in the build-up before the former made his way into the area and played across for Buendia to tap home.
Villa were showing no mercy in front of goal, they took a 3-1 lead into the interval and Torres earned his second assist of the night after his long punt found Jackson behind the Brugge defence and rounded Sommer to slot into an empty net.
Club Brugge had the chance to get themselves back into the contest after the break when a cross bounced off the hand of Aaron Wan-Bissaka inside the box, referee Sandro Schaerer pointed to the spot after a VAR review and Tresoldi buried the penalty.
Jackson could have had his second of the night, but was denied when his first-time effort was stopped by Sommer before Lamare Bogarde’s effort was blocked on the line by Joaquin Seys.
