It's the annual joint-opening match in the UEFA Champions League, as Club Brugge welcome Aston Villa back to Belgium. The last time these two sides met, Villa cruised into the Quarter Finals of the Champions League, with goals from Ian Maatsen and a Marco Asensio brace in a 3-0 win (6-1 agg.) at Villa Park - after an early Kyriani Sabbe red card. Club Brugge will be looking for a different story this time, a positive being they did beat Aston Villa in the League Stage of the same 24/25 campaign. A 1-0 home win, after a bizzare Tyrone Mings handball gave the Blauw-Zwart a penalty, in which Hans Vanaken cooly converted. They currently sit 3rd in the Belgian Pro League, after mixed performances so far they will be surely looking to make a statement to their fans - and what a time and place to do it. Winger Carlos Forbs is back available for this game, after a sending off in a 2-1 loss to Genk last week. Aston Villa are still searching for their first goal of the season, it's been an up-and-down start for them. A disaster opening against Brighton led them to ship 4 goals, including a red card for new signing Joao Gomes. Manager Unai Emery was pleased with an improved performance against reigning champions Arsenal, however that was shortly followed by a very lackluster performance against Hull on Saturday. Good news for the Villans sees Joao Gomes available to play, giving his suspension is only valid in English competition. However new signing Johan Manzambi is still a doubt, with Brian Madjo, Kéba Cissé and Amadou Onana suffering from injuries. Newest signing Taylor Harwood-Bellis is unable to play due to being excluded from the registered squad.