Champions League: Aston Villa cruise into quarterfinals where PSG await

Aston Villa’s Marco Asensio celebrates scoring the team’s third goal with teammates Marcus Rashford and Youri Tielemans during the Champions League Round of 16 second leg against Club Brugge on March 12, 2025
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Aston Villa marched into the Champions League quarter-finals on Wednesday (March 12, 2025) with an easy 3-0 win over 10-man Club Brugge in their last-16 second leg, giving them a 6-1 aggregate victory and setting up a far tougher task next against Paris St Germain.

Marco Asensio, on loan to the English Midlands side from PSG, was the star of the night, bagging a quick double after coming on as a substitute after the break.

“Very happy for the victory,” he said. “We want more. Now we have a little break and to think about the upcoming objectives.”

Trailing 3-1 from the home leg, Brugge actually began the tie better and gave Villa some early scares including a glancing header from Hans Vanaken, to gee up their noisy travelling fans.

But the Belgians faced an impossible challenge once Kyriani Sabbe was sent off for pulling down Marcus Rashford as he was bearing down on goal in the 16th minute.

Unai Emery’s team took full advantage in the second half, Asensio swivelling and scoring from close range in the 50th minute after a pass from fellow substitute Leon Bailey.

Ian Maatsen side-footed Villa’s second goal with the help of a deflection seven minutes later, before Asensio swept home in the 61st minute from a cutback by the ever-marauding Rashford, to the joy of a packed and bouncing Villa Park.

Asensio has now scored seven goals for Villa since arriving in early February.

Brugge coach Nicky Hayen said his team had performed creditably in their three games against Villa in the competition, taking into account also an earlier 1-0 win over Villa in the league stage.

“I don’t think we were dominated by them,” he said. “They’re more efficient than us, the chances they get they score, the chances we get, we weren’t efficient enough.”

Arsenal to face Madrid

Arsenal set up a Champions League quarterfinal against holders Real Madrid with a 9-3 aggregate win over PSV Eindhoven after a 2-2 draw in the second leg of their last-16 clash on Wednesday.

Progress was already a formality for the London club after their stunning 7-1 victory in the Netherlands last week and when Oleksandr Zinchenko blasted them ahead in the fifth minute, PSV would have feared another hammering.

But Ivan Perisic replied for the visitors with a sublime finish in the 18th minute to give the thousands of boisterous PSV fans something to cheer.

Declan Rice headed Arsenal back in front from Raheem Sterling’s pinpoint cross before halftime but PSV earned a deserved reward for a vastly-improved display as Couhaib Driouech calmly chipped in a 70th-minute leveller.

With the outcome long since decided, swathes of home supporters opted for an early getaway but PSV’s army of fans stayed until the end and almost saw their side snatch victory as substitute Luuk de Jong headed narrowly wide in stoppage time.

Arsenal’s easy progress was not without a cost as the impressive Sterling, given a rare start, was booked late on for a rash tackle and he will now miss the first leg of next month’s quarter-final at home to Real Madrid.

Zinchenko, one of seven changes to the Arsenal side that drew with Manchester United at the weekend, had never scored a goal in European competition but opened his account with a stunner, taking Sterling’s pass and cutting in from the right before lashing a shot past PSV keeper Walter Benitez.

That put Arsenal 8-1 ahead on aggregate and Bayern Munich’s record Champions League knockout 12-1 aggregate win over Sporting in the 2008-09 season looked to be in range.

But Arsenal did not have the appetite to chase records as they played the game largely in cruise control as they reached the quarter-finals for the second successive season having fallen to Bayern Munich last year.

“We’ve done it consistently and now we want to make the next step, which is going to be really difficult. But we are very capable of that,” Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta told reporters before knowing whether Real Madrid or Atletico Madrid were waiting for them.

“We are a club, a team that wants to be the best and wants to be competing with the best clubs in the world. And in order to do that, you have to constantly be there. And it’s very difficult. But we’ve done it for two years in a row. And we have the capacity and the ability to do it even better.”