Aston Villa 3-0 Club Brugge highlights, ratings and reaction as Champions League quarter-final awaits

Tyrone Mings' reaction

Tyrone Mngs told TNT Sports: "It's good. Tough to put into words. When you're in it, it's hard to take it in and appreciate it, the level we're playing at. The bar keeps raising. The Championship feels like a long time ago. I'm really enjoying the journey.

"It's important for them [Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio] to come in and buy into it. They come with big reputations. For them to come in, hit the ground coming, buy into the group and show their quality is so impressive.

"We didn't get it right in the first half. It's important to stay calm and try to figure it out at half-time.

"His experience is so valuable. The ancedotes he gives us are so important to give us a reality check on how much work still needs to be done.

"Of course [he watched the PSG game yesterday], what else was I meant to be doing? Very tough game. We're so excited. We play in the toughest league in the world. When it comes to the Champions League, we'll go there and give a good account of ourselves. We'll enjoy every moment but we have a lot of firepower and quality ourselves."

John McGinn's reaction

John McGinn told TNT Sports: "It's mad. A lot of years of hard work. We let ourselves down in the first half but they're a good side. Even with 10 men they were the better side. We're lucky to have Marco to come off the bench. The second half was brilliant.

"It doesn't get much harder than PSG over two legs. We have important games before that.

"I watched it [Liverpool v PSG] but you don't want to get too far ahead of yourselves. Villa, Champions League quarter-finalists. Can't ask for much more.

"It'll be good to have a bit of a break. We have a chance for Wembley in the FA Cup. We want to get back and enjoy these nights next season. What an exciting end to the season we've got.

"We're giving these fans experiences they'll remember forever. We want to write our names in history and make these nights more frequent."

Villa player ratings

Here are your Villa player ratings

FT: Villa 3-0 Club Brugge (6-1 agg)

All over at Villa Park! Villa are through the UCL quarter-finals... Incredible.

Player ratings to follow...

Asensio has been reborn under Emery

78' - Mignolet denies Tielemans' strike from distance

Marcus Rashford finds Jacob Ramsey running into the box, but he couldn’t quite find the Man United loanee on the reverse.

From the resulting corner, Villa worked it around the box before Youri Tielemans fired at goal. Mignolet made a strong save to deny him.

66' - Emery makes double Villa change

Emery opts to make a double change.

Tyrone Mings and Morgan Rogers come off, replaced by Pau Torres and Jacob Ramsey.

GOAL: Villa 3-0 Club Brugge (6-1 agg)

Marco Asensio makes it 6-1 on aggregate! The Spaniard converts from close range after being found by Marcus Rashford.

GOAL: Villa 2-0 Club Brugge (5-1 agg)

Ian Maatsen makes it 5-1 to Villa on aggregate and 2-0 on the night. There was a check for an offside, but Morgan Rogers was onside. Looked tight. Who cares? Villa are going through!

53' - Asensio hits the post after being picked out by Tielemans

Youri Tielemans finds Marco Asensio’s run in behind the Brugge backline. With only Mignolet to beat, Asensio hits the post! So close to a second goal in the space of eight minutes since coming on.

GOAL: Villa 1-0 Club Brugge

Marco Asensiooooo! He collets Leon Bailey's clever pass in the box and slams past Simon Mignolet.

50' - Mignolet beats Mings' effort away

Marcus Rashford finds space down the left and wins a corner after being tackled near the byline.

After going short, Rashford then gets the ball back, before crossing. Brugge head clear.

After failing to clear the danger completely, Mings slams the ball at goal - Mignolet beats it away.

Second half starts: Emery makes double change

We're back underway at Villa Park...

Marco Asensio and Leon Bailey have both come on for Boubacar Kamara and Ollie Watkins.

HT: Villa 0-0 Club Brugge

It's goalless in the second leg at half-time, but Club Brugge were reduced to 10 men early on when Kyriani Sabbe was sent off for denying Marcus Rashford a clear goal-scoring opportunity.

43' - Watkins happy to continue for now

Ollie Watkins spotted Mignolet off his line and tried to lob over him from distance. His effort didn’t worry the former Liverpool ‘keeper.

Moments later, Watkins sat down on the turf asking for medical attention. He’s now back on his feet and happy to continue - they’ll assess him at half-time.

32' - Watkins can't escape Ordonez after Tielemans' perfect pass

Youri Tielemans threads through an excellent pass into Ollie Watkins’ path, but Ordonez does very well to sprint back and get the right side to win the ball back.

That has been the first sign of 10-man Brugge being unlocked at the back. They’ve gone man-for-man as they’re chasing the tie.

28' - Villa are not playing their best football

Villa have been pretty poor in the first 28 minutes here, but are yet to really concede a goal-scoring opportunity to Brugge.

Marcus Rashford has been bright so far, obviously making the run which put Sabbe in the position where he had to foul him to deny him from having a big chance to score.

Apart from that, Villa haven’t threatened despite playing against 10 men.

21' - Mignolet saves Tielemans' free-kick

After Rashford was brought down, Tielemans went close to opening the scoring from the resulting free-kick. The Belgian whips the ball over the wall, but Mignolet got down well and made the save.

RED CARD: Brugge down to 10 men

Kyriani Sabbe has been sent off for Club Brugge. Emi Martinez sends an inch-perfect ball for Marcus Rashford to chase in behind, before he was brought down by the defender.

15' - Mignolet thwarts Rashford after Maatsen won the ball back

Ian Maatsen wins the ball back in the final third and tries to find Morgan Rogers, but the pass lands at Marcus Rashford’s feet instead. The Manchester United loanee knocked the ball into the box, where Simon Mignolet was there to rush out and collect the ball.

Down the other end, Brugge won a corner. Martinez was on hand to catch the ball - no danger.

10' - Vanaken heads wide of the far post

Matty Cash played a pass across the edge of the box, which allowed Brugge’s Talbi to strike. His effort goes well over the crossbar with Emi Martinez untroubled.

Such a strange dynamic with Villa two goals to the good, you just hope they don’t feel too comfortable. You get the feeling that Villa will need a goal themselves to take the tie out of Brugge’s reach.

De Cuyper’s cross finds Vanaken in the box, but the midfielder’s header goes wide. Manager Hayen applauds.

3' - Brugge enjoying possession from the off

Interesting to see John McGinn occupy the number 10 role, with Morgan Rogers out on the right instead. Marcus Rashford plays off the left as normal.

Villa haven’t had a touch in the first couple of minutes - clearly they’re happy for Brugge to play their stuff and then strike when the time is right.

Villa have plenty of dangerous attackers, all bound to cause problems. Score first and Villa will be in a super position, but concede and the tie is wide open.

Kick-off: We're underway at Villa Park

We’re underway at Villa Park…

With a two-goal advantage, Villa have a huge opportunity to progress to the Champions League quarter-finals tonight. Club Brugge, beaten 3-1 last Tuesday, are still a dangerous opponent because they’ll play without any pressure.

Brugge manager even claimed that nobody is giving his players a chance of overturning their deficit. If Brugge are leading at Villa Park at any point, this tie will be blown wide open.

Villa will have to defend well, and will be hoping to strike on the counter-attack with Marcus Rashford, Ollie Watkins and Morgan Rogers in behind.

I’ll bring you updates every few minutes from Villa Park.

Nothing has changed in Villa's preparation for the second leg

“Nothing changes," Emery said. "We are respecting them a lot. We have our own experiences, myself and the players as well, in our careers.

“Tomorrow anything could happen. It’s a football match and a lot of things can happen in 90 minutes. The match can change so quickly.

“We won there but we won in the last minutes with two actions that we had. That’s football, but the respect is massive. The respect of them is massive.

“The result for us is to follow the same gameplan we had there. We’re going to play another 90 minutes tomorrow in the second leg.

“We’re ready to compete for 90 minutes. We’re ready in case of extra-time and we’re ready in case we will need a penalty shoot-out.”

Emery hails Rogers' versatility

“With how football is changing, I appreciate a lot the players being versatile, playing different positions, understanding everything tactically. One of them in our squad is clearly Morgan Rogers, and John McGinn as well.

“This versatility and performing like we are always needing is really very important. Sometimes I’m pushing other players to be versatile or to adapt. Being versatile in case we will need it.

“Not every player is ready to do it, but Morgan Rogers is always positive and his versatility is very important for us. In the last match, we played in different positions with Morgan.

“He played striker, number ten, right side, left side, and he’s always performing very well because he’s a player who understands tactically everything we are planning and he has the qualities to do it.

“The importance he has now is trying to improve. I’m always pushing him to get more of him, but physically as well he’s keeping the level we needed until today. Hopefully tomorrow he can be ready to play 90 minutes, performing like he is doing.”

Hayen claims nobody is giving Brugge a chance tonight

"If we did not believe in it, we would not be here,” Hayen said about his side’s chances. “You always have to believe. Tomorrow we will need a similar performance to Atalanta. But what we have done has given us confidence.

“The only thing we know is we really believe in our own chances. Even if it is a small percentage, we still believe. The players believe in it. That has been the case in the dressing room the last couple of days.

“We still believe we can do it. We can turn it around in as tough a way as possible. We will consider everything. But it is quite easy, we have to score.

“We played with courage at home, we went for it. We went on the attack. We had chances we didn’t really use. If you take your chances we can go ahead. We know it is going to be more difficult but that is obvious.

“What we did against Atalanta was the ideal scenario. But you are not going to do that every time. We can’t let Villa score. That is what happened last week. They scored and took the tempo out of the game. We can’t let that happen.

“We will have to be more clever and put more pressure on attacking-wise. We are going for it 100 per cent. We have to win. There is no pressure. Nobody is giving us a chance. It is like a bonus match but we are going to go and try to win.”

Cash on Villa's strength in numbers and competition for places

"It’s always nice to have competition, especially when you are in the Champions League and you have a lot of games," Cash said. "You have to have competition at the top level. Every top club has good competition.

"I have had a few niggles which haven't been great, so I have been working to cut that out. Sometimes it’s just unfortunate. When you play you have to take your chance. When players fill in they have to do as well. We are all in the same boat.

"It’s hard because sometimes you feel good, but then you get a little fatigue at the high level. I have had a few niggles because when you play a lot of games, it just comes.

"I do everything right, it’s not the fact that I’m not doing things right. I am doing double now as much as I can now to try and stay fit and stay in the team."

Asked if this is the strongest squad he has been a part of at Villa, Cash said: "Definitely. With all due respect to the squads we have had before, this is the best squad we have had in the years I have been here, for sure.

"We are strong in every position, two really good players now in each. It is really important to have that all around the squad. To have that rotation is good."

Emery urges Villa Park to bring the noise

“The supporters know the importance of our process here – not only in Villa Park but the supporters that were in Bruges.

“The environment, helping and supporting us, is very important to be motivated, excited and pushing us to show them our best and get our performances like we are showing in Villa Park with everything – tactically, individually and emotionally to connect with our supporters. Their energy and our energy.

“It’s really special moment tomorrow in Villa Park, and we have to be together and we have to enjoy it. We have to be getting balance, but emotionally we have to enjoy it.”

Jashari: You never know in football

Ardon Jashari said: “We had a really good game against them and we showed a really good performance in the league phase. You never know in football. It will be difficult, but everything is possible in football. We have nothing to lose and we will go for it fully.

“It is difficult to say a percentage. When we have chances to score, efficiency will be really important. When you see the game, we had clear chances. Tomorrow may be different because they play at home. When we play at home, the chances will be there.

“I think the difference is that we won the first leg against Atalanta [first leg]. Villa have two goals ahead and this is the difference. We will have to see how they play, but it will be a totally different game because they are leading. It is a completely different game.

“The team won’t play with pressure. We will try our best to go through, of course. We can still believe in that, but we don’t have pressure for tomorrow.

“We have to be ready from the first second. In football it is not over until the referee blows his whistle. We have to take our chances and play as a team.

“They know we are a strong team. I don't think Aston Villa will underestimate us for tomorrow. They know how we played in the two home games against them. They are leading with two goals, but we haven’t got a lot to lose.”

Emery out to create a new history at Villa

"We have our challenges, our vision of how we want to increase our level and achieve different objectives. We are now evolving in it.

“To play in the Champions League has been fantastic, but my objective is to be consistent playing in Europe and the Champions League.

“Everything we are achieving is because we are in a new way. It’s a new demand, starting from the owners, starting from the club, starting with everything we are trying to set inside.

“I think the supporters are in the same way. To keep it is difficult. This is the challenge I have. You can remember my objective when I arrived here firstly was to be contenders for trophies, to play in Europe – maybe the first objective I had was to be in Europe.

“We got it last year and this year. To be contenders for a trophy, last year we were contenders in the Conference League but we lost in the semi-final. This year, we’re in the FA Cup and Champions League as well.

“Everything we are doing, hopefully we can keep it for a long time. This is the challenge. I know after the club won the European Cup they were for a long time not achieving the demands we are now setting in the club: to be in Europe, to be a contender for trophies.

“Everything we are doing is important, but I want more.”