Aston Villa vs. Club Brugge: Prediction, Preview & Betting Tips

Aston Villa are in a good position here. They've been very strong on home soil in the Champions League, winning three and drawing one of their four games, and the Villa Park crowd will be extremely raucous here. Brugge will make their life difficult, but it should be a win for the home side. Aston Villa 2-1 Club Brugge.

Aston Villa are on the verge of securing their place in the quarterfinals of the Champions League as they lock horns with Club Brugge in Birmingham.

• Date: 12/03/2025
• Kick-off time: 20:00
• Location: Villa Park, Birmingham

Aston Villa enter this game with a 3-1 first leg lead. Unai Emery’s side will consider themselves lucky to have such a strong lead from a game where they were arguably second best. They took the lead in Brugge early doors through Leon Bailey but were quickly pegged back by Maxim De Cuyper.

After the equaliser, Villa’s threat was limited and Brugge were the side pressing for the next goal, but late in the game, the Belgians converted a fairly harmless Morgan Rogers cross into their own goal before giving away a needless penalty that was converted by Marco Asensio.

The game was far from a robbery, but in no way were Villa superior enough to warrant a two goal lead, but that’s the way the game works. They now come into this game as the overwhelming favourites to progress to the next round, and while their odds are good, that also brings a degree of palpable pressure with it.

Fortunately for Villa, they’ve been near perfect in this competition on home soil, winning three and drawing one of their four games, including a 1-0 win over Bayern Munich. Given they can lose by a one goal margin and still progress from this tie, they should get the job done, but they’ll want to do it with aplomb to really set themselves up for an intense quarterfinal matchup.

Club Brugge face a huge task coming to Birmingham. The Belgians’ late collapse on home soil has put them in an extremely tough position heading into this game, and they’ll have to pull off an exceptional performance in order to progress to the quarterfinals.

In fairness, that’s not beyond them, as they demonstrated in the playoff round where they beat Serie A title contenders Atalanta 3-1 away from home, finding themselves 3-0 up at half-time. Such a performance will have to be replicated here, but the difference is that this time they’re the ones chasing the game, whereas Atalanta were the side in that position last time out.

Of their five away games in the Champions League this season, Club Brugge have won two, drawn one and lost two, so it’s hard to know what side will turn up here. Villa Park has been extremely atmospheric in Villa’s Champions League games and they’ll no doubt try to make life uncomfortable for the Belgians here. If they can score early, they’ll likely make the crowd nervous, and from there, anything can happen.

This game will be televised live to all subscribed UK viewers on TNT Sports 2.

Aston Villa Team News:

Unai Emery is starting to welcome a number of player back to full fitness, with Amadou Onana and Ross Barkley the only injury absentees.

However, Donyell Malen and Andres Garcia are ineligible, so Villa will have to make do without those two.

Predicted lineup: Martinez; Disasi, Konsa, Mings, Digne; McGinn, Tielemans; Bailey, Rogers, Ramsey; Watkins.

Club Brugge Team News:

The Belgians will be without teenager Joaquin Seys, but the defender is likely to be their only injury absentee for this one.

Predicted lineup: Mignolet; Sabbe, Ordonez, Mechele, De Cuyper; Onyedika, Jashari; Talbi, Vanaken, Tzolis; Jutgla.

Aston Villa:

Aston Villa enter this game in good form, with Unai Emery's side having won four and lost one of their last five games. Last time out, Villa claimed a dogged 1-0 win away at Brentford thanks to second half goal from Watkins, a result that followed last week's win in Brugge.

Before that, Villa claimed a 2-0 win over Cardiff City in the FA Cup, thanks to an Asensio brace, which came after a 4-1 hammering away at Crystal Palace and a 2-1 over Chelsea, with Asensio once again scoring a brace.

Club Brugge:

Club Brugge are amidst a mixed run of form, with the Belgians winning two, drawing one and losing two of their last five games. At the weekend, Club Brugge played out the Brugge derby against city rivals Cercle, emerging 3-1 winners thanks to a goal from Vanaken and a double from Jutgla.

That result was preceded by the loss to Villa, a 1 1-1 draw with Gent, where Jutgla scored the goal, and a 1-2 loss to Standard Liege.

Those results were preceded by a 3-1 win away at Atalanta, where Talbi (X2) and Jutgla scored the goals.

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