Aston Villa began their Champions League league phase with a 3-2 win at Club Brugge, three goals in the first 42 minutes ending a goalless start to the season and giving Unai Emery his first victory of a rebuilding campaign. John McGinn, Emiliano Buendía and Nicolas Jackson scored before the break, and Nicolò Tresoldi's penalty in the 60th minute made the last half-hour anxious.
Villa had failed to score in their first three Premier League matches, and had managed a single shot on target between them. In Belgium they had 21 shots, nine of them on target, to Brugge's 14 and seven, despite having only 36% of the ball. Emery, who has had to integrate ten new signings after a summer in which Morgan Rogers, Ezri Konsa and Ollie Watkins left, called it a step forward.
McGinn Makes European History
McGinn put Villa ahead in the 10th minute, and the goal began with Pau Torres. The centre-back drove unchallenged to the edge of the box and spread the ball to his captain, who guided a first-time left-footed finish into the far corner past Yann Sommer. It was McGinn's 12th goal in Europe for Villa, taking him past Watkins as the club's all-time leading scorer in UEFA competitions.