Aston Villa vs Club Brugge KV prediction: EUROPE: Champions League – Play Offs betting tips on match 2025-03-11 20:00.
[p]With one foot already in the UEFA Champions League (UCL) quarter-finals, Aston Villa merely have to complete the formalities against Club Brugge after winning the first leg 3-1. According to Opta, they have a 94% chance of progressing, which is the fourth-highest probability of the sides competing in the last 16, and if Villa progress as expected, they will become the ninth different English side to qualify for a UCL quarter-final – the outright most across all European countries. [/p]
[p]The positive omens are stacking up for Villa, who won a third successive game in all competitions at the weekend, while they have progressed from 12 of their previous 14 major European ties when they’ve won the first leg. But perhaps the biggest omen of them all is that the last time they hosted a Belgian side in European competition, they beat Anderlecht 1-0 in the semi-finals in 1982 on their way to lifting the European Cup. [/p]
[p]After their first-leg disappointment, Club Brugge bounced back with a 3-1 derby victory against city rivals Cercle Brugge to snap their three-game winless run in competitive action. Domestic matters will be put to the back of their minds for the time being as they try to overturn a 3-1 deficit here, and they did encouragingly win by that scoreline on their last UCL away trip. [/p]
[p]Never before have Brugge won successive UCL away games though, which means they’ll have to make some history here if they are to make the UCL (excluding European Cup) quarter-finals for the first time. Losing the first leg at home on six occasions in major European ties and being eliminated all six times suggests that wait will go on here, while 14 successive failures to win on English soil should quash any lingering hopes Brugge have of a famous comeback (D2, L12). [/p]
[p]Players to watch: Aston Villa’s Belgian-born Youri Tielemans has faced Club Brugge more often than any other club in his career (W8, D5, L6) – his two career goals against them opened the scoring. Hans Vanaken could become the first-ever Brugge player to make 50 UCL appearances for the club here and he scored the winner from the penalty spot when these sides met in the league phase. [/p]
[p]Hot stat: Club Brugge have scored exactly once in five of their last six UCL away games. [/p]
[p][i]Written by Chris Wilson[/i][/p]