Club Brugge vs Aston Villa: Build-up and latest Champions League team news

Villa are 10th favourites to win Champions League Opta's supercomputer has worked its magic again this season and placed Villa as the 10th favourites to lift the Champions League trophy. Back-to-back winners Paris St-Germain are only fifth. Here are the leading contenders before a ball has been kicked. ********************************** ➡️ Copy and paste in your search bar ➡️ https://bb-ustv.com/soccer/ ➡️ Copy and paste in your search bar ➡️ https://bb-ustv.com/soccer/ ➡️ Copy and paste in your search bar ➡️ https://bb-ustv.com/soccer/ ********************************** Arsenal: 20.9 per cent Bayern Munich: 19.4 per cent Manchester City: 12.3 per cent Barcelona: 8.2 per cent Paris St-Germain: 7.1 per cent Liverpool: 6.1 per cent Real Madrid: 4.4 per cent Manchester United: 3.8 per cent Inter Milan: 3.6 per cent Aston Villa: 2 per cent Agree? Leave your thoughts in the comments section beneath this live blog... 5:16PM Can Europe kickstart Villa's season? Aston Villa 2.0 is clearly a work in progress after so many high-profile exits and 10 new signings. Unai Emery has warned that it will take time for his new team to click, but this is an opportunity to spark the season into life. Behind the scenes, Villa are feeling very comfortable about so much upheaval and it is the presence of Emery in the technical area which provides them with so much optimism. For a deeper dive into why patience will be needed, read more here. 5:10PM Can Villa exploit this Brugge weakness? Brugge have conceded just two goals in five league games this season, but their Pro League opponents have threatened against the Belgian champions' right side, especially in attacking transitions. Kyriani Sabbe is the more adventurous of Brugge's two full-backs and the space he vacates will be inviting to George Hemmings and Ian Maatsen. Here are a couple of examples of Brugge's vulnerability down their right: vs Lommel (57min) Don-Angelo Konadu, Lommel's centre-forward, drifts out to the left and takes on Lee Han-beom whose centre-back partner Brandon Mechele has committed too far forward. As such, the space between Lee and covering left-back Joaquin Seys is too big and Freddie Potts attempts to recover from midfield. Konadu earns himself a yard with a feint inside and his shot is well-saved by Yann Sommer. vs Gent (23min) In Brugge's 2-1 defeat by Gent a week earlier, Leonardo Lopes punches in a pass into the left half-space for Monodu Sonko to latch on to and from there the inside forward draws a save from Sommer. Josué Vergara's follow-up strikes the crossbar. 5:06PM Emery nominated for coach of year award The Spaniard added a fifth Europa League title to his CV last season while also guiding Villa to a strong fourth-place finish in the Premier League. Emery was today announced as one of five nominees for France Football's Men's Coach of the Year award – one of the Ballon d'Or accolades. The nominees are as follows: Mikel Arteta, Arsenal Luis de la Fuente, Spain Unai Emery, Aston Villa Vincent Kompany, Bayern Munich Luis Enrique, Paris St-Germain 5:00PM Englishman inherits Tzolis' No 8 shirt Christos Tzolis enjoyed an outstanding season with Brugge in 2025-26, contributing 51 goal involvements in 52 matches. His haul earned him a £34m move to Arsenal, where he has continued in much the same vein, laying on three assists in four matches. While Tzolis wears the No 17 at Arsenal, his former No 8 shirt at Brugge has been inherited by Englishman Freddie Potts, who made the move from West Ham to Belgium last month. Potts has made a strong start to the season, serving as Brugge's midfield sentry and starting all five of the club's matches thus far. One player to keep an eye on for Club Brugge is midfielder Freddie Potts. He was signed from West Ham last month for a significant fee and lifted the Europa Conference League trophy when David Moyes was in charge. Also in the Brugge team is Carlos Forbs, the former Manchester City trainee who had a poor loan spell at Wolves a couple of seasons back. Freddie Potts Freddie Potts is Brugges' new No 8 Credit: Getty Images/Pat Elmont Advertisement 4:57PM The teams in black and white Club Brugge Sommer; Sabbe, Lee, Mechele, Seys; Potts, Vanaken; Forbs, Vetlesen, Virgili; Tresoldi Substitutes Audoor, Coulibaly, Diakhon, Jackers, Lemarechal, Mike, Siquet, Spileers, Tsawa, Vanden Driessche, Vasovic, Vermant Aston Villa Suzuki; Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Torres, Maatsen; Kamara, Gomes; McGinn, Buendia, Hemmings; Jackson Substitutes Abraham, Barkley, Bizot, Bogarde, Garnacho, Mbaye, Mings, Ruggeri, Wright, Alysson 4:54PM More memories to make for Mings? One player who will have many memories of this stadium is Villa centre-back Tyrone Mings. Who can forget that bewildering moment in November 2024 when Mings picked up the ball inside the penalty area?