Aston Villa boss Unai Emery was happy but remained focused after our 3-1 win over Club Brugge in the first leg of our round-of-16 Champions League tie.
Villa went ahead after just three minutes courtesy of Leon Bailey’s strike, but we lost our way as the first half played out, and the home side were in the ascendency and had plenty of chances.
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While there were able to get back on level terms heading into the interval, an own-goal and a Marco Asensio penalty ensured we take an important lead into the second leg at Villa Park next week, but there were signs in this game that the job is far from done.
At 1-1, the tie was undoubtedly in the balance and with Villa’s defensive issues in mind, that would have been an incredibly dangerous position for us to be in for the reverse fixture.
However, a two-goal advantage certainly gives us more control and a clearer idea of how to approach the encounter, but Emery will have to devise a winning gameplan, and one that deals with Brugge’s attacking threat more effectively.
“Very important. Very tough match,” he said, as per BBC Sport. “The idea was to compete how like the players showed there. Of course we could play better, but sometimes competing can get your target and today we showed it.
“We struggled sometimes defending, we needed the goalkeeper and needed the last action with Tyrone Mings. Of course it is a good result but we are getting balance as well.
“Individual skills and individual performances is very important for the team. Leon Bailey scoring today is fantastic.
“We played 90 minutes today, we know we have to play another 90 minutes continuing the gameplan we had today.
“We have to be ready to get extra time and the penalty shootout because we have to expect everything.”
It’s hoped that it doesn’t come to that next week and we can secure our place in the quarter-finals with minimal fuss, but that will only be doable if we become more solid and robust defensively.
Our hosts had several chances that they will look back on and rue as it could have been a very different story had they been more clinical, and while the same could be said for us, we still need to improve and impose ourselves more effectively and consistently in games.
While the focus switches to Brentford in the Premier League this weekend, there is a real job still to do if we want our European run to continue, and it’s hoped that we’ll continue to get key individuals back in the fold by then with both Matty Cash and Boubacar Kamara getting valuable minutes in the second half, while Pau Torres was among the substitutes.