Club Brugge vs Aston Villa facts

Club Brugge will look to repeat their league phase victory against Aston Villa when the teams reconvene at the Jan Breydelstadion in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg.

Despite beating Villa 1-0 in their fourth fixture, Club Brugge finished 24th in the league phase, but produced two impressive displays against Atalanta in the knockout phase play-offs (2-1 h, 3-1 a) to reach the round of 16 for only the second time.

Villa were eighth in the league phase standings in their first Champions League campaign and are now gearing up for their first European Cup knockout tie since the 1982/83 quarter-finals.

Previous meetings

2024/25 Champions League league phase
Club Brugge 1-0 Aston Villa
Hans Vanaken's 52nd-minute penalty, awarded after a Tyrone Mings handball, separated the sides in Belgium on Matchday 4.

Form guide

Club Brugge

Record vs English clubs: W7 D5 L18 F29 A61
Home record vs English clubs: W7 D3 L4

Club Brugge concluded this season's league phase with a 3-1 loss at Manchester City.

The win against Villa is the Belgian side's only victory in their last 16 matches against Premier League opposition (D3 L12), since a 1-0 home victory against Chelsea in the 1994/95 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup quarter-finals, a tie they lost 2-1 on aggregate.

Despite keeping a clean sheet against Villa, Club Brugge have conceded 17 goals in their last five matches against English clubs.

At home, Club Brugge won six of their first seven games against English visitors, drawing the other, but the win against Villa was their first since beating Chelsea (D2 L4).

Club Brugge's last knockout contest against Premier League opponents ended in a 1-6 loss to Manchester United in the 2019/20 UEFA Europa League round of 32 (1-1 h, 0-5 a). That made their record in two-legged ties with English clubs W2 L7 with defeats in the last four.

This is Club Brugge's 11th campaign in the Champions League proper – one short of Anderlecht's Belgian record.

The most recent came in 2022/23, the Belgian side reaching the knockout stages for the first time before losing to Benfica in the last 16 (0-2 h, 1-5 a).

Victories against Villa, Sporting CP (2-1) and Atalanta this season have made it six wins in Club Brugge's last 25 home matches in the Champions League proper (D7 L12).

European Cup runners-up to Liverpool in 1978, Club Brugge spent 2023/24 in the UEFA Conference League, eventually losing 3-4 on aggregate to Fiorentina in the semi-finals.

The 0-3 Matchday 1 defeat by Borussia Dortmund is Club Brugge's only loss in 13 home European games (W9 D3).

Aston Villa

Record vs Belgian clubs: W1 D1 L3 F2 A6
Away record vs Belgian clubs: W0 D1 L2

Villa have played only two other ties against Belgian clubs, losing 1-5 on aggregate to Antwerp in the 1975/76 UEFA Cup first round (1-4 a, 0-1 h) but beating Anderlecht 1-0 in the semi-finals of their victorious 1981/82 European Cup campaign (1-0 h, 0-0 a).

This is Villa's first Champions League campaign – they are the 11th English club to feature in the competition proper.

Villa are taking part in the European Cup for the third time overall, and a first since 1982/83, when as holders they lost 5-2 on aggregate to eventual runners-up Juventus in the quarter-finals (1-2 h, 1-3 a).

The Villans were involved in European competition for the first time since 2010/11 in 2023/24, Unai Emery's team reaching the Conference League semi-finals before being eliminated by eventual champions Olympiacos (2-6 agg).

This season's wins at Young Boys (3-0) and Leipzig (3-2) have made it four in Villa's last 15 away European games; that run includes eight defeats, including 0-1 at both Club Brugge and Monaco on Matchday 7.

Villa are one of five clubs to have made their Champions League debuts in 2024/25, along with Brest, Bologna, Girona and Slovan Bratislava – and the only one still involved.

Links and trivia

Have played in Belgium:
Youri Tielemans (Anderlecht 2002–17)
Amadou Onana (Anderlecht youth 2013–15, RWS Bruxelles youth 2015/16, Zulte Waregem youth 2016/17)
Leon Bailey (Genk 2015–17)

Have played in England:
Simon Mignolet (Sunderland 2010–13, Liverpool 2013–19)
Tristan van den Heuvel (Leeds 2020–24)
Christos Tzolis (Norwich 2021–22)

Mignolet was an unused substitute in Liverpool's Champions League final win in 2019, having also been on the bench for their defeat the previous year; he did play 90 minutes of their 3-1 loss to Sevilla in the 2016 UEFA Europa League final.

Latest news

Club Brugge

Club Brugge have lost two of their last five league games (W1 D2). They drew 1-1 at Gent on Saturday, conceding a 92nd-minute equaliser.

Ferran Jutglà had given Club Brugge the lead, his fourth goal in five appearances.

The Belgian champions went down 1-2 against Standard Liège on 23 February – ending a 16-match unbeaten home run in all competitions (W13 D3).

The 0-0 Matchday 7 draw with Juventus is one of only two games in 38 in all competitions in which Club Brugge had failed to score; they have two or more goals in 12 of their last 18 league fixtures, although only one of the last six.

Raphael Onyedika was taken off in the first half against Standard with a muscle injury and missed Saturday's draw.

Bjorn Meier has been out with a knock since 25 January.

On 4 February Hans Vanaken won the Belgian Golden Shoe – for the country's best player – for the third time. Nicky Hayen was named Belgium's coach of the year, Simon Mignolet taking the goalkeeper's award.

Aston Villa

Two Marco Asensio goals gave Villa a 2-0 victory at home to Championship club Cardiff in the last 16 of the FA Cup on Friday. The Spaniard has four in his last three appearances.

A 2-1 home win against Chelsea on 22 February is Villa's only victory in their last seven Premier League matches (D4 L2).

Seven of Villa's eight league losses this season have come away from home, most recently 4-1 at Crystal Palace on 25 February – the fourth of those eight losses by a three-goal margin.

A 1-0 victory at Everton on 15 January is Villa's only win in their last nine Premier League away games, and one of only two they have not lost.

Boubacar Kamara went off early in the first half of a 1-1 draw at home to Ipswich on 15 February with a thigh injury and has not played since, although he was on the bench on Friday.

Tyrone Mings went off with a knee injury against Chelsea and has missed the last two games, while Donyell Malen (illness) and Matty Cash sat out the win against Cardiff.

Pau Torres has been out since 30 December with an ankle problem.

Amadou Onana has been sidelined by a thigh injury since 1 February.

Ross Barkley has been out since suffering a calf injury against West Ham on 10 January.