Aston Villa beats Brugge and is close to the quarter-finals of the Champions League
English team takes the lead, concedes a draw and comes under pressure, but Brugge’s defensive blunders give them the win
Close to the vacancy
Aston Villa had a good dose of luck to beat Brugge 3-1 away from home on Tuesday and move very close to the Champions League quarter-finals. The English team took the lead, conceded the equalizer and saw their opponents miss a few chances. However, two mistakes by Brugge’s defense gave Villa two goals in the final stretch of the match.
How does it look?
Aston Villa can lose by one goal next week in England and still advance to the quarterfinals. Brugge needs to win by three goals to advance. If they win by two goals, they will have to play extra time and go to penalties. The game will be on Wednesday (12/03) at 5 pm at Villa Park. Whoever qualifies will face the winner of Liverpool vs. PSG in the quarterfinals, with the match starting this Wednesday.
The 90 minutes
Aston Villa looked like they would crush Brugge. He scored a great goal quickly, with Bailey, and then saw Rashford miss a great opportunity. However, the home team recovered from the initial scare, organized themselves and equalized in a beautiful play by De Cuyper. From then on, Brugge were better, had more game volume, didn’t run any risks and only didn’t turn the game around because Dibu Martínez made a spectacular save on a shot by Talbi.
In the second half, Brugge continued to play better. They had two incredible chances to score. One with Vanaken, who headed the ball, but Mings saved it almost on the goal line. Another shortly after with Tzolis, who shot over the goal. As the saying goes, “if you don’t score, you get scored on”. Villa managed to break through on the right with Rogers, who crossed and Mechele scored an own goal when he tried to clear it. Soon after, Tzolis, who was one of the best players on the pitch, controlled the ball poorly in his area and brought down Cash. Asensio took a penalty well and sealed the score.
