Gabby Agbonlahor tells Aston Villa what they need to do v Club Brugge
Aston Villa finally return to Champions League action against Club Brugge this week as Unai Emery prepares for knockout football.
Villa travel away from home on Tuesday (4 March) before welcoming the Belgians to Villa Park for the second leg of the tie on Wednesday 12 March.
Emery will hope for a better result than the league phase, when Club Brugge came away with a 1-0 win after a Tyrone Mings disaster at the back.
Gabby Agbonlahor offers Aston Villa advice ahead of Club Brugge tie
As Villa prepare for the first leg of their tie away from home, there will be some concerns over recent league form for the West Midlands outfit.
Emery’s side have been fairly inconsistent of late with one win from their last five Premier League games, including a thrashing at the hands of Crystal Palace.
| Aston Villa v Cardiff City (FA Cup) | 2-0 |
| Crytsal Palace v Aston Villa (Premier League) | 4-1 |
| Aston Villa v Chelsea (Premier League) | 2-1 |
| Aston Villa v Liverpool (Premier League) | 2-2 |
| Aston Villa v Ipswich Town (Premier League) | 1-1 |
| Aston Villa v Tottenham (FA Cup) | 2-1 |
| Wolves v Aston Villa (Premier League) | 2-0 |
However, a 2-0 win against Cardiff City in the FA Cup means that the Villans do come into this game on the back of a victory.
Speaking live on talkSPORT (4 March, 9:57am) Agbonlahor offered his advice as he said: “I think don’t lose the game. I’ll take a draw now. I’ll take a 0-0 draw, any sort of draw doesn’t matter, does it, on away goals so.
“Just don’t lose because this team, Club Brugge, have shown they can play at home in a first leg and get a result like they did against Atalanta and then second leg they don’t mind playing away from home. They went to Atalanta and won 3-1 and could’ve scored even more. Very dangerous on the counter attack.
“So if I’m Aston Villa, learn from the first game when you were so poor, which I’m sure the manager will and obviously, you want to go there to try and score but don’t lose the game because even though the second leg’s at home, these teams now it doesn’t phase a lot of them.”
Aston Villa need Champions League victory
With the inconsistent form of late, Villa find themselves sitting 10th in the Premier League, which is certainly below where they want to be as they hope to secure European football again.
However, being in the Champions League has opened the door to sign players such as Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio in the winter window, who will become real weapons in the competition.
Emery will be seeking revenge on Club Brugge, and there would be no better way than the second them packing and going to the quarter finals of the Champions League – what a huge achievement that would be.
As Agbonlahor says, Club Brugge are a difficult side who have shown they can win against the odds.
Whatever the result is on Tuesday is not set in stone, but if Villa can at least go into the home leg level, it will certainly boost their prospects of going through.