Aston Villa took a significant step towards the Champions League quarter-finals with a 3-1 victory over Club Brugge in the first leg of their Round of 16 clash.
Leon Bailey opened the scoring early, netting in the third minute to give Unai Emery’s side a perfect start.
Villa continued to press, and their efforts were rewarded late in the match when Club Brugge defender Brandon Mechele turned the ball into his own net. Marco Asensio then sealed the win with a composed penalty.
Despite the strong performance, Emery remained cautious.
“It was like we planned, My expectation was to face the difficulties we had. We had respect and tried to adapt to them more than usual like I’d want,” Emery told the media.
“After the analysis we did of the match in November, they have a very good structure with the ball.
“We decided to respect them when they had the ball, keeping good positioning. The most important thing was how we competed in the match, the set-pieces and the first goal.
“We competed even more defensively than I wanted. We needed the goalkeeper, Tyrone Mings’ save. We can remember the match we played before here with Tyrone. This time he saved a really important action.
“How the substitutes responded in the last 30 minutes of the first leg, keeping the same game plan [was good]. There are still 90 minutes to play. They won against Atalanta 3-1 and they competed very well.
“We need to watch the match again with the players to understand the difficulties we can face against teams in Europe. I am happy, but calm, getting balance. There are still 90 minutes to play.”
