Aston Villa travel to Belgium to take on Club Brugge in the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie, with Unai Emery’s side looking to take a vital advantage back to Villa Park.
The Villains finished eighth in the competition’s league phase and their reward is a last-16 tie against the Belgian side, who scraped through in 24th before earning one of the surprise results of the play-offs as they beat Atalanta 5-2 on aggregate.
Villa’s squad has been reinforced with the arrival of Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio, as shown in the club’s 2-0 win over Cardiff in the FA Cup, and they now face a confident Brugge team who eliminated one of Italy’s best sides.
And it all makes for a fascinating tie as the business end of the Champions League begins in Belgium.
Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the match:
When is Club Brugge vs Aston Villa?
The match is schedule to kick off at 5.45pm GMT at the Jan Breydel Stadium in Bruges, Belgium.
How can I watch the match?
In the UK, the match will be broadcast live on TNT Sports 1, with coverage starting at 5pm. Subscribers can also watch online and via the discovery+ app.
You can purchase a TNT Sports subscription via discovery+ here, for only £30.99 per month.
Confirmed line-ups
Club Brugge XI: Mignolet; Sabbe, Ordonez, Mechele, De Cuyper; Onyedika, Jashari; Talbi, Vanaken, Tzolis; Jutgla
Subs: Jackers, Romero, Vetlesen, Vermant, Nilsson, Skoras, Nielsen, Siquet, Spileers, Campbell
Aston Villa XI: Martinez; Konsa, Disasi, Mings, Digne; McGinn, Tielemans; Bailey, Rogers, Rashford; Watkins
Subs: Olsen, Zych, Cash, Torres, Asensio, Maatsen, Bogarde, Ramsey, Kamara
Team news
Unai Emery makes four changes from Friday’s win over Cardiff in the FA Cup, the headline being Marco Asensio dropping to the bench despite his double in the 2-0 victory.
Asensio is replaced by Morgan Rogers, who starts in a front four of Leon Bailey, Marcus Rashford and Ollie Watkins.
With John McGinn and Youri Tielemans in midfield, there’s three changes to the defence with Axel Disasi, Tyrone Mings and Lucas Digne coming in.
Odds
Club Brugge win - 7/4
Draw - 23/10
Aston Villa win - 31/20
Prediction
This match will be a tense affair, with the visitors happy to take any sport of result back to Villa Park. With Emery’s side unlikely to throw everything at it in attack, it could end in a stalemate.
Club Brugge 1-1 Aston Villa.
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