Club Brugge host Aston Villa in the early Champions League kick off this evening with both teams surprising inclusions at the last-16 stage of the competition.
Villa massively impressed during the league phase of the revamped format and finished eighth after five wins and a draw from their eight matches. Unai Emery’s men came straight into the round of 16 and now must take on the Belgian side in a two-legged tie in order to progress.
For their part, Brugge just managed to sneak into the play-off round by finishing 24th in the table but shocked everyone with a 5-2 aggregate with over Atalanta.
Villa’s squad has been strengthened since their last Champions League outing and, with only two defeats in their last eight matches across all competitions, they’ll be confident of making it through to the quarter-finals.
Follow all the Champions League action with our live blog below:
Club Brugge vs Aston Villa LIVE
Club Brugge host Aston Villa in the Champions League with kick off at 5.45pm | Live on TNT Sports
Brugge came through the play-off round to reach this stage beating Atalanta 5-2 on aggregate
Villa have only lost two of their last eight matches and come into the game in good form
Club Brugge vs Aston Villa
14:45 , Mike Jones
Aston Villa travel to Belgium to take on Club Brugge in the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie, with Unai Emery’s side looking to take a vital advantage back to Villa Park.
The Villains finished eighth in the competition’s league phase and their reward is a last-16 tie against the Belgian side, who scraped through in 24th before earning one of the surprise results of the play-offs as they beat Atalanta 5-2 on aggregate.
Villa’s squad has been reinforced with the arrival of Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio, as shown in the club’s 2-0 win over Cardiff in the FA Cup, and they now face a confident Brugge team who eliminated one of Italy’s best sides.
And it all makes for a fascinating tie as the business end of the Champions League begins in Belgium.
Good afternoon!
13:00 , Mike Jones
Welcome to The Independent’s coverage of tonight’s Champions League action as Aston Villa take on Club Brugge in the first leg of their last-16 tie.
Unai Emery’s men will be hoping to continue their strong run in Europe’s top flight this year and will want to progress to the next stage of the competition.
Winning away from home will help him achieve that goal but can they get the job done tonight?
We’ll have the latest team news, line-ups and updates throughout the evening so stick with us as we build up to kick off at 5.45pm.
