Unai Emery’s side took the lead 11 minutes into proceedings in a slightly bizarre fashion. While Club Brugge completely stopped due to Emiliano Buendia staying down in the centre circle, Pau Torres glided forward and offloaded the ball to John McGinn for the captain to curl a composed effort inside the far post.
George Hemmings had two opportunities within five minutes of the opener, but the 19-year-old saw one effort saved and poked the other wide.
That wastefulness was soon punished as Jan Virgili picked out Hugo Vetlesen, who guided his first-time attempt into the bottom corner.
Parity lasted a mere three minutes, though, with a well-worked Villa move culminating in Joao Gomes chopping back and squaring for Buendia to convert.
Villa continued to probe, with McGinn seeing his strike from range saved before Nicolas Jackson sent an improvised attempt marginally wide.
However, Jackson didn’t have to wait too much longer to score his first Villa goal and double the visitors’ lead, beating Yann Sommer to Torres’ long ball behind the Blauw-Zwart’s defence and sliding the ball into the vacant net.
Ivan Leko made a change ahead of the restart but still would have been concerned by how easily his side was cut open, with McGinn firing over following a defence-splitting Torres pass.
Yet, the hosts still caused issues going the other way, and got a penalty on the hour mark when Aaron Wan-Bissaka handled Joaquin Seys’ cross. Keeping his nerve as the Blues-Blacks’ faithful sat with bated breath, Nicolo Tresoldi sent Zion Suzuki the wrong way to score his spot kick.
Club Brugge were visibly buoyed by the goal, and Suzuki palmed a Vetlesen attempt behind, then just about kept out Tresoldi’s header from the ensuing corner with help from the post.
But Villa eventually regained their former momentum, with Sommer denying Jackson and Seys clearing Lamare Bogarde’s effort off the line.
Though it was nervy at times, the Villans put their Premier League woes behind them to record a ninth win in 13 UCL matches played under Emery.
In getting off to a winning start on the continent, they also inflicted just the fourth defeat Club Brugge have suffered across their last 23 UEFA home matches.
Flashscore Man of the Match: John McGinn (Aston Villa)
