Aston Villa cling on in Brugge to begin Champions League campaign with dramatic win

[p][b]Unai Emery’s side took the lead 11 minutes into proceedings in a slightly bizarre fashion. While [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/club-brugge/rgTHIK74/"]Club Brugge[/a] completely stopped due to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/buendia-emiliano/dYDvGYIu/"]Emiliano Buendia[/a] staying down in the centre circle, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/torres-pau-francisco/AVUHg8JU/"]Pau Torres[/a] glided forward and offloaded the ball to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mcginn-john/rgGnzD2e/"]John McGinn[/a] for the captain to curl a composed effort inside the far post.[/b][/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/hemmings-george/h468RYvs/"]George Hemmings[/a] had two opportunities within five minutes of the opener, but the 19-year-old saw one effort saved and poked the other wide.[/p][p][b]That wastefulness was soon punished as [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/virgili-jan/UH5fAvIb/"]Jan Virgili[/a] picked out [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/vetlesen-hugo/nD7QjiB8/"]Hugo Vetlesen[/a], who guided his first-time attempt into the bottom corner.[/b][/p][p][b]Parity lasted a mere three minutes, though, with a well-worked [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/aston-villa/W00wmLO0/"]Villa[/a] move culminating in [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/joao-gomes/rcOLZhUD/"]Joao Gomes[/a] chopping back and squaring for Buendia to convert.[/b][/p][embed guid="0c491817-079d-4b8e-85d9-dc4fd54586dc" url="https://x.com/AstonVilla/status/2097373317602664705" social-type="twitter" /][p]Villa continued to probe, with McGinn seeing his strike from range saved before [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/jackson-nicolas/jXg8d5RJ/"]Nicolas Jackson[/a] sent an improvised attempt marginally wide.[/p][p][b]However, Jackson didn’t have to wait too much longer to score his first Villa goal and double the visitors’ lead, beating [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/sommer-yann/4zA5n1UG/"]Yann Sommer[/a] to Torres’ long ball behind the Blauw-Zwart’s defence and sliding the ball into the vacant net.[/b][/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/leko-ivan/C4NhTcv0/"]Ivan Leko[/a] made a change ahead of the restart but still would have been concerned by how easily his side was cut open, with McGinn firing over following a defence-splitting Torres pass.[/p][p][b]Yet, the hosts still caused issues going the other way, and got a penalty on the hour mark when [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/wan-bissaka-aaron/faGmGOOh/"]Aaron Wan-Bissaka[/a] handled [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/seys-joaquin/vyuc4aCs/"]Joaquin Seys[/a]’ cross. Keeping his nerve as the Blues-Blacks’ faithful sat with bated breath, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/tresoldi-nicolo/nuJC7uWq/"]Nicolo Tresoldi[/a] sent [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/suzuki-zion/4bDDVvmT/"]Zion Suzuki[/a] the wrong way to score his spot kick.[/b][/p][embed guid="beb67528-2014-44f4-91d0-7945bc2914b5" url="https://x.com/ClubBrugge/status/2097386067737411725" social-type="twitter" /][p]Club Brugge were visibly buoyed by the goal, and Suzuki palmed a Vetlesen attempt behind, then just about kept out Tresoldi’s header from the ensuing corner with help from the post.[/p][p]But Villa eventually regained their former momentum, with Sommer denying Jackson and Seys clearing [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bogarde-lamar/SzpU5XAK/"]Lamare Bogarde[/a]’s effort off the line.[/p][p]Though it was nervy at times, the Villans put their Premier League woes behind them to record a ninth win in 13 UCL matches played under Emery.[/p][p]In getting off to a winning start on the continent, they also inflicted just the fourth defeat Club Brugge have suffered across their last 23 UEFA home matches.[/p][p][b]Flashscore Man of the Match: John McGinn (Aston Villa)[/b][/p][h2][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/aston-villa-W00wmLO0/club-brugge-kv-rgTHIK74/?mid=hYMyrzBC"]Catch up on the match stats with Flashscore[/a][/h2][image alt="Match momentum" id="01bc754c-e535-4732-a226-08f22d142a03" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="9dce9d54-1286-45d7-8c29-aa58c0ac2459" original-width="3840" original-height="2160" /]