Aston Villa have made it into the last eight of the Champions League after seeing off Club Brugge 3-0 at Villa Park and 6-1 on aggregate, setting up a quarter final clash with Paris Saint Germain. A Marco Asensio brace as well as Ian Maatsen’s first goal in claret and blue was enough to see off the Belgian outfit after Kyriani Sabbe’s red card 16 minutes into the second leg.
The home side were welcomed onto the pitch to a light show, tifo and flag mosaic display before kick off as the Holte End bellowed the Champions League anthem to urge their side on to make history. The opening exchanges however were dominated by the visitors as Villa sat in a defensive low block, challenging Club Brugge to break them down.
The Belgians caused a scare early on as their captain Hans Vanaken headed narrowly wide from an Ardon Jashari cross from the left; but not long after a lot of nerves inside the stadium were eased. Emi Martinez’s flighted through ball left Marcus Rashford bearing down on goal and all Kyriani Sabbe could do was pull him down on the edge of the box, giving referee, Daniel Siebert, no choice but to send him off.
Despite being down to ten men Brugge still retained 66% of possession in the first half with the home side failing to capitalise on their man advantage. In his pre-match notes, Unai Emery was well aware of the potential consequences of a poor performance.
“Without full energy and commitment, we can be in big trouble.”
In an effort to turn the tide, the Basque manager made two half time substitutions. Ollie Watkins (knock) and Boubacar Kamara made way for Leon Bailey and Marco Asensio – the latter making all the difference. Instantly, Villa looked rejuvenated kicking towards the famous Holte End. Villa’s supporters hadn’t had a lot to cheer about in the first 45, besides the red card, but they soon would.
Five minutes into the second half, Bailey played a dinked through ball to Asensio who took it first time on the half turn firing into the roof of the net to send the Holte End into raptures, all but sealing the tie for the Villans.
Marco Asensio extends Aston Villa's lead to 4-1 on aggregate, just 4️⃣ minutes after entering the pitch 💥
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) March 12, 2025
He's now scored 6 goals in 8 games for the club 🤩
📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/HXexgw3ca3The Spaniard very nearly doubled Villa’s lead after beautifully bringing down Youri Tielemans’ lofted pass, only for Simon Mignolet’s stud to tip it onto the post to keep the score at 1-0 on the night.
Just seven minutes after taking the lead, the crowd would be roaring again. After a neat passage of play down the left flank, Morgan Rogers cut a ball back from the byline for Ian Maatsen who was there to score his first for the club, two days after turning 23.
The party atmosphere was in full swing on the hour mark as super-sub Asensio made it three, scoring his seventh goal in five games! This time Rashford and Rogers combined down the left. After driving into the box, Rashford teed up Asensio to make it 6-1 on aggregate and confirming Aston Villa’s place in the Champions League quarter-finals. It was also the fourth time Rashford has assisted Asensio since joining the club on loan from Manchester United in January.
The Midlands side will face French champions, Paris Saint-Germain in the quarter finals, after they beat Liverpool on penalties on Tuesday night. There are plenty of stories going into the game with Wednesday’s match winner Marco Asensio going against his parent club as well as manager, Unai Emery going against the club he managed from 2016-18. Aston Villa will be looking to make it to the semi-finals for the first time since winning the European Cup in 1982, whereas PSG will be aiming to reach back-to-back semis. The first leg takes place on April 9th at the Parc des Princes.
