Villa bulldoze Brugge for deserved quarter-final slot

Aston Villa win 6-1 on aggregate

- Richard Jolly

Six years ago in April, Aston Villa’s schedule included a trip to Rotherham. Now they will visit Paris next month. Their horizons have broadened, their life is more glamorous. A Championship club in 2019 are Champions League quarterfinalists in 2025.

They will face Paris Saint-Germain in the last eight after a brace from a loaned PSG player, Marco Asensio, with the added benefit that he will be eligible to play his parent club at the Parc des Princes. It is another indication of how far and how fast Villa have come that a triple Champions League winner was on the scoresheet for them again. So, too, was Ian Maatsen, a Champions League finalist with Borussia Dortmund last season. Club Brugge, who scarcely boast the resources to attract such players, were eliminated.

Theirs, perhaps, was more of a fairytale rise but the Villa story has its remarkable elements. They were 14th in the Premier League when Unai Emery was appointed. They are now in the last eight of the premier European competition, surrounded by clubs with far more recent pedigree on this stage. They will be underdogs against one of Emery’s old employers but they are compiling a formidable record on this stage.