First-half treble powers Aston Villa to Champions League win at Club Brugge

Aston Villa overcame an early 3-1 lead scare to win 2–? (match ended as Villa’s Champions League opener win) against Club Brugge in a Champions League debut that swung between control and danger. John McGinn opened the scoring before Emi Buendía and Nicolas Jackson’s first goal appeared to put Villa in front at half-time. The Belgian side pulled one back via a penalty after Aaron Wan-Bissaka conceded, following a Tyrone Mings handball that had already awarded a spot-kick earlier in the tie. Villa’s goals included a finish by McGinn after Pau Torres played him in, plus a sequence where Jackson’s backheel set up Buendía, and a late first-half strike involving Torres’s lofted pass. Unai Emery and substitutes were a talking point after Villa felt changes were not ready.