Soccer
Aston Villa finally win, but what does Club Brugge victory mean for Emery's side?
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Aston Villa are finally in the win column for the 2026-27 season, and all it took was a Champions League away match for them to get it.
The Villans claimed a 3-2 victory over hosts Club Brugge on Tuesday as the league phase of the latest Champions League got underway, with goals from John McGinn, Emi Buendia and Nicolas Jackson.
As mentioned, it was the first victory of any kind this season for Unai Emery's men after two losses and a draw in the Premier League so far and a 2-1 defeat to PSG in the UEFA Super Cup. The win was a long time coming for this new-look Villa side, but what does it mean in the greater context of the campaign?
- Read next | Tactical analysis: How Villa's counter-attack exposed Club Brugge's structural imbalance
Here are three of the bigger talking points from Tuesday's match:
They scored! More than once!
Villa's goal scoring woes to start the season are well known, as they have gone scoreless through their first three matches in the Premier League and before Tuesday only had their lone Super Cup goal to hang their hats on.
That all changed in Belgium as Villa hit for three goals, all of which came in a dominant first half that teased a rout for the English side. Jackson and Pau Torres were instrumental in their team's first-half outburst, with the former scoring his first in a Villa shirt after his £47.5 million transfer to the Birmingham club over the summer, and he was also a handful for the Club Brugge defenders in other ways.
Like the rest of his team, Jackson faded in the second half, but after struggling to make an impact in earlier matches it must be heartening for Emery to see one of his big-name signings showing promise.
Still some problems defending, though
Villa opened their Premier League campaign on the wrong end of a 4-0 thrashing by Brighton, and while they've looked better on the defensive end since then, there were still a number of warning signs for Emery to heed.
It was apparent in the first half that much of what Club Brugge wanted to do on the attacking end rested on their wingers, and they found a bit of joy down their left-hand side — especially in the first half.
Jan Virgili was more than a handful for the right side of Villa's defence and he set up Hugo Vetlesen's 19th-minute goal through his efforts, and also created a number of other chances from his flank.
The hosts' width caused major problems for Villa for much of the first hour, but the Belgians' own lack of ideas from other attacking areas contributed to Villa walking away with three valuable points.
Villa saw the match out professionally
As much as they struggled to deal with Club Brugge's pace and industry out wide for the opening 60 minutes, Emery's men managed to really take the sting out of the game over the final half-hour.
Facing a desperate home side looking to equalize, Villa were deliberate in slowing the match down and bringing the pace out of the proceedings, forcing the hosts to play the ball from side to side in a fruitless effort to level the score.
That kind of smart, professional play will serve Villa well in the future, assuming they can bring their goal-scoring ways back to England with them after Tuesday's much-needed victory.
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