Emery gets it wrong with Ramsey – Aston Villa confirmed XI v Club Brugge
Unai Emery has made five changes to his Aston Villa side ahead of their Champions League last-16 tie with Club Brugge on Wednesday.
Aston Villa head into the second leg of their clash with the Belgian champions 3-1 up on aggregate, after goals from Leon Bailey and Marco Asensio either side of an own goal put them in control of the tie.
Emery's side followed up their commanding first-leg victory in Bruges with a 1-0 win at Brentford in Saturday's Premier League match, providing the perfect springboard for the Villans to finish their job.
With a quarter-final clash against PSG – who knocked out favourites Liverpool – up for grabs if Villa avoid a two-goal defeat on Wednesday, Emery has picked a strong side capable of beating Brugge once more.
Ramsey axed in baffling Unai Emery Aston Villa decision
Despite being two goals to the good ahead of Wednesday's last-16 clash at Villa Park, Villa have named a strong starting lineup with a post on X, albeit one which comes with no less than five changes.
| Club Brugge | Statistic | Aston Villa |
| 1 | Goals | 3 |
| 1.05 | xG | 1.27 |
| 3 / 11 | Shots on Target | 4 / 7 |
| 56% | Possession | 44% |
| 3 | Corners | 1 |
Robin Olsen, Axel Disasi, Lucas Digne, Leon Bailey and Jacob Ramsey all drop out, with Emi Martinez, Matty Cash, Ian Maatsen, Boubacar Kamara and Marcus Rashford all returning for the claret and blues.
After his assist for Ollie Watkins' winner on Sunday though, Emery's decision to drop Ramsey is a baffling one; the 23-year-old managed an 87 per cent passing success rate and provided the decisive moment.
Emi Martinez return confirmed ahead of Aston Villa v Club Brugge
After missing the 1-0 win over Brentford on Saturday with a knock, the ever-reliable Emi Martinez is back between the sticks at Villa Park despite Robin Olsen's stellar display at the Gtech Community Stadium.
Olsen made three saves to prevent 0.70 goals from the same xGOT , with centre-back duo Ezri Konsa and Tyrone Mings keeping their places in between Cash and Maatsen.
The pair also started the first leg at Brugge's Jan Breydel Stadium, and saw Mings come away with revenge in the form of eight defensive contributions and a 100 per cent success in his tackles and duels.
However, Bailey and Ramsey being displaced by McGinn – who moves out of central midfield to accomodate Kamara – and Rashford out wide, is another head scratcher, having both attained success off the wings in the last week.
Bailey's third-minute goal from just 0.11 xG laid the perfect platform for Villa in the first leg and he also managed a 83 per cent passing accuracy [FotMob], while Ramsey also being axed after setting up Watkins' West London winner may come back to bite the Villans boss.