Following a slightly fortunate win in last week’s first leg, Aston Villa will host Club Brugge on Wednesday evening, as they aim to capitalise on a two-goal lead and reach the Champions League quarter-finals.
Handed a couple of late goals by some big Brugge errors in Belgium, the 1982 European champions are intent on finishing the job back in Birmingham.
Head coach Unai Emery has most of his main men available, as only Ross Barkley is certainly sidelined by a calf injury, while Amadou Onana is back in training after overcoming a thigh problem.
The Villans’ Basque boss also has concerns over Marco Asensio – who has already scored five goals for his loan club since joining from Paris Saint-Germain – and first-choice goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, both of whom missed Saturday’s Premier League win over Brentford.
The latter has recently been hampered by a minor injury, meaning a couple of rare appearances for experienced deputy Robin Olsen, but Emery will want to welcome back a man who has only been beaten with seven of 42 shots on target in Europe this term – an impressive 83% save percentage.
Elsewhere, Spanish centre-back Pau Torres is fit again following an ankle problem, but Tyrone Mings should be retained on the left side of Villa’s central defensive pairing; Axel Disasi excelled against Brentford and could beat Matty Cash to selection at right-back.
Belgian midfield general Youri Tielemans – who made his Champions League debut for Brugge’s rivals Anderlecht over a decade ago, aged 16 – will most likely be partnered by captain John McGinn in the hosts’ engine room, but Boubacar Kamara is also available.
Up front, Morgan Rogers and Leon Bailey should start behind top scorer Ollie Watkins, while Marcus Rashford and local lad Jacob Ramsey fight it out for one place on the left.
Due to a lack of UEFA squad space, January signings Andres Garcia and Donyell Malen are both out of contention, as they were omitted from Emery’s list for the knockout rounds.
Aston Villa possible starting lineup: Martinez; Disasi, Konsa, Mings, Digne; McGinn, Tielemans; Bailey, Rogers, Rashford; Watkins
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