Aston Villa will host Club Brugge in the second leg of our round-of-16 Champions League tie with a crucial two-goal advantage next week.
It came after a battling display in Belgium on Tuesday evening, as we emerged as 3-1 winners to pick up a valuable lead on the road going into the reverse fixture.
READ MORE: Villa player ratings vs Club Brugge: Quartet decisive in crucial win
Leon Bailey broke the deadlock for us after just three minutes, and although the home side were level by the break, an own-goal and a Marco Asensio penalty in the space of six minutes late on ensured we sealed the victory.
Speaking after the game, Unai Emery and the players were keen to stress that it’s merely half-time in the tie, and so we still have a job to do next week as we look to advance to the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
Late show gives us crucial second-leg advantage
Club Brugge will feel hard done-by after our late show, as it could be argued that the Belgian outfit had the better chances and deserved something from the game.
However, two decisive moments in the 82nd and 88th minute ensured that we sealed a fundamental win in the away leg, and now have an advantage to protect when we host our opponents next week.
At 1-1, there was real concern. Given the opportunities that Brugge were carving out and their threat in quick transitions and counter-attacks, it could have left us in a really precarious position at home, with the onus on us to control the game and push forward. The tie is still far from over, but those two late goals could be prove to be tie-defining moments.
Defensive concerns persist, job not done
The major reason behind why it’s important to stress that this tie is far from over, is our defensive vulnerabilities, which continue to be on display without a fix being found.
Both Emiliano Martinez and Tyrone Mings deserve credit for two decisive interventions that they produced to help put us in a position to win this game, but Brugge were wasteful, and had they been more clinical, this game could have looked so much different.
Villa kept a welcomed clean sheet against Cardiff City last week, but based on this defensive display, it looks as though we haven’t found a long-term solution to make that a more consistent feature of our outings.
Mings redemption after previous experience
After his horror blunder in this fixture in the league phase which resulted in us falling to a bitterly disappointing 1-0 defeat, Tyrone Mings had business to take care of in this encounter.
Not only did he produce a commanding performance in the heart of the Villa backline with his countless clearances to snuff out danger, but he produced one of the more eye-catching moments in the contest.
His goal-line clearance defied physics given the way he contorted his body to find the angle to help the ball on its way past the right side of the post, and having been singled out for praise by Emery in his post-match interview, the Villa centre-half was a crucial reason behind our win.
Injury boost from influential trio
Villa have been plagued by injuries this season, but it was great to see more key individuals returning from setbacks just in time for the run-in.
While Matty Cash and Boubacar Kamara both got minutes in the second half to hopefully set them up for a bigger role in our upcoming games, Pau Torres also returned to the bench after his lengthy layoff.
Getting that trio back will be critical to helping restore balance and defensive solidity to the team as well as composure and quality in possession, and so we’re hopefully building momentum at just the right time to stay alive in the pursuit of our objectives this season.
Big goal for Bailey
It’s been a struggle for Bailey this season, as the 27-year-old has managed just two goals and three assists in 34 appearances across all competitions.
That is a significant fall-off from the numbers that he produced last year, and coupled with the increased competition for places in the final third, things have started to look increasingly bleak for him.
However, he clearly has a key role to play for Emery still who continues to show unwavering faith in the Jamaican international. In addition to giving us balance with his ability to attack down the right flank, he scored the all-important opener in this one with a sweetly struck effort, and hopefully that sparks him into some good form now too.
