> **Villa beat Brugge in the Champions League. Dave Woodhall is getting used to it.**
**3-1 up from the away leg, a couple more of the fancied clubs going out and a team at virtually full strength. Small wonder the feeling around Villa Park as kick-off approached was one of apprehension; this is the Villa and we always manage to find a way to get it wrong. After all, Liverpool had managed it the night before and Villa are much better at turning victory into defeat than they are. However, and clinging to my firm belief that you never meet a poor bookie, they’d only been 2/9 to go through, while Villa were as short as 1/250. Which means that never mind what we might have thought, cold logic made Villa absolute certs. Football supporters don’t do logic.**
Unai was certainly taking no chances and put out what he doubtless thought was his best starting line-up, with Boubacar Kamara in the centre of midfield and the classic Mings/Konsa partnership behind. Looking at the bench, you have to wonder if this is the strongest squad we’ve ever had; we’ve seen some truly magnificent Villa teams before, but never have we had substitutes like Pau Torres, Jacob Ramsey and Marco Asensio.
The stage was set for yet another great European night but what we saw was a bit too low-key for that, and in the circumstances that was the best thing we could have hoped for. The tie was effectively over after a quarter of an hour, when Emiliano Martinez hit a long ball that was destined for Marcus Rashford, had he not been hauled down on the edge of the box. A red card was inevitable, the resulting free-kick well-saved but there was no earthly way a ten-man opposition were going to pull two goals back.
Nothing much else happened for the rest of the first half. Brugge knew it wasn’t going to be their night and Villa didn’t seem bothered about doing anything dramatic. There was a bit of tweaking at half-time, with Asensio and Leon Bailey coming on and it didn’t take long for them to have an effect, at the same time killing any lingering doubts about the result.
Five minutes after the restart came the perfect team goal; it had players driving forward, quick passing, a determination to win the loose ball and a lighting finish by Asensio. The on-loan genius had time to hit the post before Villa’s second, which Morgan Rogers laid on for Ian Maatsen. And it didn’t take long after that for Rashford to run with the ball, pull it back for Asensio and the third to be scored. Game over and time to let a few of the squad players get some minutes.
After we beat Bayern I said that I hope we never take these nights for granted, and while that didn’t happen, the evening felt what it was – a routine win against lesser opposition. You had to stop for a second, look around at all the branding and realise that this routine win, with no fuss, no drama and hardly any threat, was to go through to the Champions League quarter-finals. We’re 33/1 to win the trophy again. Maybe you might soon meet a poor bookie after all.
### _Related_