Aston Villa booked their place in the last eight of the Champions League on Wednesday night with a 3-0 win over Club Brugge (6-1 on aggregate). They will face Paris Saint-Germain in the quarters, but who made all the difference for the Villans?
Emi MARTÍNEZ – Very little to do in the game but played the defence-splitting through ball to Marcus Rashford resulting in Kyriani Sabbe’s red card in the first half. 7.5
Matty CASH – Kept touch tight with Christos Tzolis in the first half, occasionally overzealous and warned by referee. Worked well with Bailey on the right hand side in the second half. 6.5
Ezri KONSA – Did well to keep Ferran Jutglá out of the game with robust defending and always calm on the ball. 7
Tyrone MINGS – Worked well with Konsa throughout, marshalled any attacking threat out of the game, nearly scored on the swivel in the second half well saved by Simon Mignolet. 7.5
Ian MAATSEN – Cut out any threat from opposite number, Chemsdine Talbi, at source. Adventurous down the left in the second half and well worthy of his first goal for the club. Great in and out of possession. 8.5
Boubacar KAMARA – Like most of the team, struggled to keep possession and little involvement. Subbed at HT both to protect after recent injury as well as tactical change from Unai Emery. 6
Youri TIELEMANS – Smart defensive positioning when needed, worked well linking up play throughout second half with 92% pass accuracy. 8
Morgan ROGERS – Very poor in the first half, dispossessed often and not involved in the press. Played better moving to favoured position on the left assisting Maatsen. Not his best night. 6.5
Marcus RASHFORD – Also struggled in first half but made the run resulting in Sabbe dismissal. Played as striker in second half drifting to left, looks a different player when playing with Marco Asensio: assisted third goal. 8
John MCGINN – out of the game for a lot of the first half playing further up. Good midfield performance in pivot with Tielemans in second half feeding the creative players. 7.5
Ollie WATKINS – Very few chances came his way. Picked up a knock late in the first half before trying to catch Mignolet off his line. Subbed off at half time due to injury. 6
Substitutes:
Marco ASENSIO (for Kamara, 46′) – Game-changing performance. Constant movement in the pockets caused 10-man Brugge plenty of problems. Scored twice and hit the post. The loanee was the creative spark that lit up the second half. 9.5 ⭐
No Premier League player has scored more goals across all competitions than Marco Asensio (7) since his debut for Aston Villa in February.
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) March 12, 2025
Settling in nicely 🏡 pic.twitter.com/n07DwgAgnb
Leon BAILEY (for Watkins, 46′) – Looked bright down the right hand side with an assist to Asensio five minutes into second half. Slowly finding form again. 7.5
Pau TORRES (for Mings, 66′) – First appearance after broken metatarsal in December. Good to get minutes into the legs. 7
Jacob RAMSEY (for Rogers, 66′) – Chemistry building with Maatsen on the left hand side, always energetic off the bench. 7
Axel DISASI (for Cash, 75′) – N/A
Unused: Olsen, Zych, Digne, Bogarde, Onana
Aston Villa: 3
Asensio (50′,61′), Maatsen (57′)
Club Brugge: 0
