Unai Emery reserves special praise for Aston Villa star 'needed' in Club Brugge win

It’s advantage Aston Villa ahead of next week’s Champions League last 16 second leg after Unai Emery’s side beat Club Brugge 3-1 away from home on Tuesday night.

Marco Asensio’s clinical penalty and an own goal from Brandon Mechele were enough to seal a huge win for Villa after Leon Bailey’s early opener was cancelled out by a superb finish from Maxim De Cuyper.

Villa could have easily lost the game as Brugge had the greater share of possession and more clear-cut opportunities, but Unai Emery won’t be complaining as his men now have a huge upper-hand for the second leg next Wednesday.

Emery looked very angry on the touchline at the start of the second half as Brugge were dictating play but four substitutes helped change the game, one of whom - Asensio - scored the vital third goal to see out the victory and increase the buffer.

"It was like we planned," Emery said in the post-match press conference. "My expectation was to face the difficulties we had. We had respect and tried to adapt to them more than usual like I’d want.

“After the analysis we did of the match in November, they have a very good structure with the ball. We decided to respect them when they had the ball, keeping good positioning. The most important thing was how we competed in the match, set-pieces and the first goal.”

Redemption for Mings

The likes of Bailey and Asensio will deservedly earn praise for their goals but one man really stood out, standing above his teammates with his hunger to redeem himself for a glaring error against the same opponents earlier in the season.

Tyrone Mings, who cost Villa in the 1-0 league phase defeat to Brugge back in November, put in a redemptive performance in his second visit to Jan Breydel Stadium. The defender conceded the bizarre and pivotal penalty a few months ago as he picked up the ball in a miscommunication with goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez but he saved a certain goal on his return to Belgium.

With the score level at 1-1, Brugge were on the ascendency and looked set to score a second as Hans Vernaken directed a header towards the far bottom corner. Mings had other ideas, however, sprinting back to slide in with a heroic goalline clearance. The way the defender changed his body shape at the last moment to flick the ball behind for a corner was seriously impressive.

“We needed Tyrone Mings’ save,” Emery admitted in a nod to the centre-half’s authoritative performance. “We can remember the match we played before here with Tyrone. This time he saved a really important action.”

Not only did Mings make a decisive defensive intervention on the night, but he was also directly involved in one of the goals. Nodding down Youri Tielemans’ deep free-kick back into the danger zone, Mings assisted Bailey’s half-volleyed goal just three minutes into the game.

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