Club Brugge KV vs Aston Villa

Club Brugge recorded their first win over an English side since February 1995, a 1-0 victory versus Chelsea in the Cup Winners’ Cup. They were on a 14-game winless run against English opponents coming into tonight (D3 L11), and had lost their first five such matches in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League.

Aston Villa have lost each of their last three games across all competitions, equalling their longest losing streak under Unai Emery (after three-game losing runs in both February 2023 and May 2024).

This was the first time a Belgian side had beaten an English opponent in the UEFA Champions League since October 2000 (Anderlecht 2-1 Manchester United), ending a run of 18 games between sides from these two nations without a Belgian victory (D2 L16).

Club Brugge have never previously faced Aston Villa in any competition. They are winless in 14 European games (inc. qualifiers) against English clubs, drawing three and losing 11 since a 1-0 win over Chelsea in the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1995.

Aston Villa’s last meeting with a Belgian opponent was in 1981-82 European Cup semi-final against RSC Anderlecht, winning 1-0 at home and drawing 0-0 away on their way to lifting the trophy that year.

Club Brugge have lost their last three home UEFA Champions League matches, failing to score in each game while conceding nine goals. They have only lost four in a row once, between 2016 and 2018.

Aston Villa have won their first three UEFA Champions League matches without conceding a goal. Only three teams have won their first four games: Milan in 1993, Paris SG in 1994 and Juventus in 1995, none of whom did so with a clean sheet in each game.

Across Club Brugge’s last 15 UEFA Champions League matches, they have either conceded 2+ goals (nine games, 35 conceded) or kept a clean sheet (six games). Since the start of 2022-23, only Internazionale (63%) have a higher clean sheet rate than Brugge (6/11, 55%) among teams to feature in more than one campaign.