It’s time for the Champions League! Club Brugge face Aston Villa in the second leg of their Round of 16 tie, kicking off at 8pm UK time (9pm in Belgium). Can the Belgian side overturn their first-leg defeat and keep their European dream alive? Here’s everything you need to know ahead of tonight’s clash.
The fixture
On Wednesday night, Club Brugge travel to Birmingham to take on Aston Villa in the decisive second leg of their UEFA Champions League Round of 16 tie.
Key European stats ahead of this fixture:
- This will be Club Brugge’s 373rd match in European competition and Aston Villa’s 97th.
- It marks the 131st European meeting between a Belgian and an English club.
- Club Brugge are playing their 108th Champions League match, with 74 of those coming from the group stage onwards.
- This is Club Brugge’s 11th Champions League campaign (group stage included) and Aston Villa’s very first.
Aston Villa claimed a 3-1 victory at the Jan Breydel Stadium in the first leg. Former Genk winger Leon Bailey opened the scoring after just three minutes, firing in from a headed knockdown following a free-kick.
Club Brugge responded well and were level just ten minutes later when Christos Tzolis teed up Maxim De Cuyper, who found the bottom corner with a precise strike. The hosts looked on course to secure a draw, but suffered a double setback late on. First, a cross deflected in off Brandon Mechele for an unfortunate own goal. Moments later, Villa were awarded a penalty, which substitute Marco Asensio calmly converted to give the Premier League side a commanding lead heading into the second leg.
Club Brugge suffered their first home defeat in five Champions League matches last time out. Their last loss at the Jan Breydel Stadium in the competition came back in mid-September, when they were beaten 3-0 by Borussia Dortmund in their opening league phase fixture.
Maxim De Cuyper scored his first-ever Champions League goal for Club Brugge in the first leg. It was his third goal in European competition, having netted against CA Osasuna and Molde FK in last season’s Europa Conference League. Wednesday’s match will be Club Brugge’s 32nd European encounter against an English club. They are still chasing their first away win on English soil, having drawn twice and lost 14 times in 16 previous visits. One of those draws came in Birmingham. In the 2011-12 Europa League group stage, Club Brugge earned a 2-2 draw against Villa’s local rivals Birmingham City.
Club Brugge will need to defy history to progress. On six previous occasions, they have lost the first leg of a European knockout tie at home – and failed to turn it around every time. However, they can take inspiration from the 1998 UEFA Cup second round, when Aston Villa won 1-0 away at Celta Vigo in the first leg, only to suffer a 3-1 defeat at home.
Aston Villa hosted a Belgian opposition on two occassions before. In the 1975-76 UEFA Cup first round, they lost 0-1 to Antwerp. In the 1981-82 European Cup semi-finals, they beat RSC Anderlecht 1-0, en route to lifting the trophy.
Villa Park, located in the Aston district of Birmingham, has been the club’s home since 1897 and holds 42,785 spectators. There have been long-standing plans to expand the capacity to 52,500, but the project remains on hold. This will be the 136th different stadium where Club Brugge have played a European away match.
Aston Villa come into this match off the back of a 1-0 away win at Brentford last Saturday. Ollie Watkins scored the decisive goal early in the second half, finishing from a Jacob Ramsey assist. The victory moved Villa up to 8th in the Premier League table.
Unai Emery’s side have been strong at home in Europe this season, unbeaten at Villa Park in the Champions League:
- Bayern Munich (1-0 win)
- Bologna (2-0 win)
- Celtic (4-2 win)
- Juventus (0-0 draw)
Villa’s last European home defeat came in May 2024, when they lost 2-4 to Olympiacos in the Conference League semi-finals – a match that saw the Greek side go on to lift the trophy.
This season, Villa have lost only twice at home in all competitions:
- 0-2 vs Arsenal (Premier League, August)
- 1-2 vs Crystal Palace (EFL Cup, October)
Players to Watch
- Ollie Watkins remains Villa’s top scorer, netting his 14th goal of the season at the weekend. He also leads the club in assists with 11.
- Hans Vanaken could make his 50th Champions League appearance on Wednesday. Remarkably, the Club Brugge captain has not missed a single Champions League match in the past 10 seasons. Only one player in this season’s tournament has a longer uninterrupted streak:
Most consecutive Champions League appearances
- Lautaro Martínez (Inter) – 51 matches in a row
- Hans Vanaken (Club Brugge) – 50
- Alejandro Grimaldo (Leverkusen & Benfica) – 41
- Kylian Mbappé (Real Madrid & PSG) – 39
- Vitinha (PSG & Porto) – 37
- Ilkay Gündogan (Man City & Barcelona) – 34
- Federico Valverde (Real Madrid) – 31
.. Antoine Griezmann (Atlético Madrid) – 31 - Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich) – 30
.. Simon Mignolet (Club Brugge) – 30
For Club Brugge, Chemsdine Talbi and Ferran Jutglà remain the top scorers in this season’s Champions League campaign, with two goals each. Christos Tzolis and Jutglà have registered the most assists (2).
Milestones
- Brandon Mechele – Could make his 480th appearance for the club.
- Raphael Onyedika – Set for his 130th match.
- Hugo Vetlesen – Could play his 90th match for Club Brugge.
- Joel Ordóñez – On course for his 70th appearance.
- Ardon Jashari – May reach his 40th match for the club.
- Hugo Siquet – Closing in on his 20th appearance.
- Michal Skoras – Could play his 20th European match for Brugge.
Match officials
German referee Daniel Siebert will take charge of the match, assisted by Rafael Foltyn and Lasse Koslowski, with Daniel Schlager as the fourth official. The VAR will be Christian Dingert, supported by Benjamin Brand.
This will be the fourth time Siebert has officiated a Club Brugge match. The UEFA referee observer for the game is Domenico Messina, while Roxana Berceanu will act as the UEFA delegate.
Interestingly, this will be the 34th European match in Club Brugge’s history to be officiated by a German referee.