Unai Emery believes Marco Asensio and Marcus Rashford can prove decisive as Aston Villa bid for a deep run in the Champions League.
Villa boosted their attack with the loan signings of Asensio and Rashford, from Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United respectively, late in the winter window.
The pair have struck up a promising partnership, with Rashford already assisting Asensio three times.
Asensio has scored four goals, while of all Premier League players, Rashford leads the way for big chances created (six) in all competitions since the start of February.
Villa take on Club Brugge in the first leg of their last-16 tie in the Champions League on Tuesday, and Emery has backed Rashford and Asensio to make a big impact.
“We added players with experience in Europe and in this competition. Usually, they are players playing in the highest level who can help us a lot,” Emery said.
“The process they are doing, progressively adapting to us, is going well.
“We are not going to get our objective only through individual players. We are going to get it collectively, building our structure as strong as possible.
“Once we have our structure, individual players can exploit their skills. This is the challenge we have.”
Onto the next round! @AVFCOfficial pic.twitter.com/t6m2Qrx8jp
— Marco Asensio (@marcoasensio10) March 1, 2025
Emery had to make the tough decision to leave January additions Andres Garcia and Donyell Malen out of his Champions League squad, though he will be able to welcome back defender Pau Torres from injury.
Torres suffered a metatarsal fracture during a Premier League 2-2 draw with Brighton in late December.
But the centre-back is back in the fold just in time for Emery to call on him in Belgium.
Fellow defenders Tyrone Mings and Matty Cash are also fit after missing Villa’s 2-0 FA Cup win over Cardiff City on Friday, alongside midfielder Boubacar Kamara, who suffered a thigh injury last month.
“Torres, Mings and Matty Cash are in the squad,” Emery told reporters on Monday.
“Kamara was in the squad Friday and tomorrow he could start playing minutes.”
Villa lost to Brugge earlier this season, but Emery expects his team to put in a much better performance this time around.
“We played here in November and we’re now in March. Hopefully we can do better now,” he said.
“When we played here we weren’t competing like I want to do. The players know and we analysed why we didn’t compete in that moment like we can hopefully do tomorrow.
“The next step is tomorrow, trying to do our best being motivated, being excited, getting balance emotionally and playing good football.”
