Aston Villa will be bidding to inflict more English misery on Club Brugge when they square off on Wednesday night.
The two teams head into the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie at Villa Park with the Premier League outfit holding a 3-1 advantage from the opening fixture.
Although Maxim De Cuyper cancelled out Leon Bailey‘s early opener, a late Brandon Mechele own goal and Marco Asensio penalty ensured that Unai Emery‘s side secured a potentially-pivotal victory.
Villa will now look to defend their lead with the winners of this contest playing whoever prevails from the tie involving Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool in the quarter-finals.
For now, though, full focus will be on Wednesday’s showdown, and Emery and his squad are looking to extend a dismal streak held by their Belgian opponents.
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What streak do Brugge hold?
In 14 matches in England, Brugge have not won a single competitive match, losing 12 of the aforementioned games across that period since first suffering defeat to West Bromwich Albion in the 1968-69 Cup Winners Cup.
Most notably, Brugge have lost their most recent five such fixtures, including giving up a lead to succumb 3-1 at Manchester City in January.
Coincidentally, it was a trip to Birmingham that marked the last time that Brugge last avoided defeat in England when they earned a 2-2 draw versus Birmingham City at St Andrew’s in the 2011-12 Europa League.
Back in 1984-95, another visit to the Midlands ended with Brugge earning a draw, this time against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground in the 1984-95 UEFA Cup.
Should Brugge fail to win on Wednesday, they will join Dynamo Kiev in second place on the all-time list when it comes to a foreign team failing to ever prevail in England.
Villa have not played host to Belgian opposition in a competitive encounter since April 1982 when they defeated Anderlecht by a 1-0 scoreline in the European Cup semi-finals.
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Villa looking to extend own run
From Villa’s perspective, they have only ever been eliminated from two European knockout ties when holding a lead from the first leg.
Not since the 1998-99 UEFA Cup have they failed to convert an advantage, losing the second game 3-1 to Celta Vigo having initially held a 1-0 lead.
Furthermore, Club Brugge have never overturned a deficit when losing the home first leg of a knockout tie, that occurring on six occasions.
However, they do have experience of pulling off comebacks when losing on their travels in the first leg, responding to a 2-1 defeat away in Molde to win 3-0 at home in the 2023-24 Conference League last 16.
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