. Perhaps the best Aston Villa could hope for on Wednesday was a game of little drama. They had effectively won the tie in Belgium last week; the last thing they wanted was to have to win it again. And yet, straightforward as it was, this was glorious, a night that in its outcome, if not the precise details, was epochal, marking Villa’s return to the European elite. Perhaps that will be a long-term state, perhaps fleeting; either way, it is significant.
There is a tide in the affairs of clubs, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. For Villa this was one of the nights fans yearn for, a night of destiny, a night to be spoken of for a long time to come. Even five years ago it would have seemed absurd that all that they had to do to reach the Champions League quarter-final was avoid a two-goal defeat against the Belgian champions.
Club Brugge had probed enough early on to provoke concern, but the tie was effectively settled by the 16th-minute dismissal of Kyriani Sabbe for catching Marcus Rashford as he bore down on goal. It had been easy to forget in his final months at Manchester United what Rashford offers, but here was further evidence of his threat running in behind opposing defences, and perhaps also of his experience in inducing the foul. Thereafter, the Brugge threat was severely diminished, and the half-time substitutions gave Villa the cutting edge to increase their advantage.
It’s a sign of Villa’s status that one of the players they could bring on was a three-time Champions League winner in Marco Asensio. It wasn’t that Villa were exactly under pressure before his arrival, but his movement and sharpness of finishing turned what could have been an anticlimax into a glorious procession. The finish for the first of his two goals looked simple but, apparently aware of Simon Mignolet’s proximity, he lashed at the …
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