Aston Villa were three goals up after forty-three minutes at the Jan Breydel and hanging on by their fingernails at the end of it. That is a strange way to win a Champions League opener, and Unai Emery will take it anyway.
Brugge 2, Villa 3. The scoring concerns that followed Villa through the opening weeks of the season disappeared in about half an hour, and Nicolas Jackson finally got the goal his manager had been waiting for.
Three Goals in Thirty-Two Minutes
John McGinn started it on eleven minutes with a curling left-footed shot that Yann Sommer got nowhere near. Brugge equalised eight minutes later through Vetlesen, and the game briefly looked like it might settle into something even. It did not.
Emiliano Buendia restored the lead on twenty-two. Jackson made it 3-1 two minutes before the break, his first goal since arriving at Villa Park, and the celebration told you how much it had been weighing on him. A striker who has not scored counts the games. Everyone at the club knows he has been counting.
The Handball That Made It Interesting
Villa's problem arrived on the hour. Seys crossed from the right and the ball struck Aaron Wan-Bissaka's arm inside the box. Tresoldi converted the penalty, 3-2, and the last half hour turned into something Emery had not planned for.
Tresoldi went close again. So did Mechele. Villa's goalkeeper Suzuki made a series of saves that had very little technique about them and a great deal of desperation, which is often what separates a win from a draw in this competition.
Three Points Is Three Points
Villa have not always travelled well in Europe and Bruges is a genuinely awkward trip, so an away win on matchday one is worth more than the manner of it suggests. The defending will bother Emery. Conceding twice to a Belgian side after leading 3-1 is not a performance he will show the players.
But Jackson has scored, McGinn and Buendia are contributing from midfield, and Villa sit on three points before the harder fixtures arrive.
Match facts: Club Brugge 2-3 Aston Villa, UEFA Champions League league phase matchday one, Jan Breydel Stadium, Tuesday 8 September 2026. Goals: McGinn 11, Vetlesen 19 (Brugge), Buendia 22, Jackson 43, Tresoldi 61 pen (Brugge). It was Nicolas Jackson's first goal for Aston Villa.
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