Rashford torn to shreds over Aston Villa incident despite win v Club Brugge
Marcus Rashford made his first Champions League start for Aston Villa in the 3-1 win against Club Brugge on Tuesday.
The Villans travelled to face the Belgian outfit on 4 March and came away with a hard-fought win despite being under the cosh for large spells.
It was the perfect start for the away side when Leon Bailey curled home the opener but that joy was cut short when Maxim De Cuyper equalised just 10 minutes later.
Somehow Villa took the lead through a Brandon Mechele own goal but struggled once again in forward areas despite the influence of Rashford from the start at Jan Breydelstadion.
Rashford struggles for Aston Villa v Club Brugge
The Manchester United loanee has been superb in forward areas since coming in during the winter window but had been limited to just two starts.
Emery handed the ex-England international his third since joining but it is fair to say that he didn’t impress as he would have hoped in Brugge.
This saw Pat Nevin pick the forward out on BBC Radio Five Live (4 March, 6:55pm) for his lack of defensive nous as the game went on.
He said: “Kyriani Sabbe is on it the Brugge right full back. Marcus Rashford’s job is to cover him and yet he was nowhere near him again there.
“Time and again Brugge are getting into dangerous positions on that right side.”
It is fair to say that this isn’t the wideman’s strong suit and that was summed up with his performance before being taken off with 26 minutes to go.
The Englishman lost four duels, winning just 25 per cent of his attempts while also failing to contribute a single defensive action [FotMob].
Rashford also committed one foul on the night, making things more difficult for his teammates on the whole.
It isn’t as if the 27-year-old was particularly great going forward as he completed just 50 per cent of dribbles and zero per cent of attempted crosses.
Aston Villa not good enough v Club Brugge
There have been plenty of problems away from home for Emery and his side, they were on show once again in the Champions League, regardless of the result.
Brugge looked far the better side throughout the clash and arguably deserve to take an aggregate lead on their travels to Villa Park.
| Stat | Club Brugge | Aston Villa |
| Possession | 56 | 44 |
| Shots | 11 | 7 |
| Passes | 466 | 352 |
| Big chances created | 2 | 1 |
Morgan Rogers struggled in uncharacteristic fashion while Ollie Watkins failed to have any sort of positive impact going forward.
It will certainly be interesting to see how the Villans can change their game when playing against the Pro League outfit at home with a two goal advantage behind them.
Fans will be hopeful that their star men can actually step up and prove their worth in claret and blue after what was a largely frustrating night at the office away in Belgium.