On Tuesday, September 8, the first matchday of the league phase of the 2026/27 Champions League season kicked off. In the day's first time slot, Aston Villa and Greece's AEK both secured victories. Both teams started their campaign in the new edition of Europe's premier club competition in confident fashion, with the match in Bruges turning into a real shootout featuring four goals in a single half. A detailed breakdown of the results from the first time slot is in the Sport RBC article.

Shootout in Bruges: Villa snatched a 3:2 win

The main match of the first slot was Bruges vs. Aston Villa, which ended 2:3 (1:3, 1:0) in favour of the visitors from Birmingham. The decisive period was the first half, in which Villa struck the hosts' net three times: John McGinn (11th minute), Emiliano Buendía (22) and Ollie Watkins (43) all found the back of the net. The Belgians replied with a goal from Verteszen on the 19th minute, and in the second half Trezoldi converted a penalty (61), but that was not enough to salvage even a draw.

McGinn opened the scoring in the new edition

It is worth noting separately that it was John McGinn who scored the first goal of the current league phase of the Champions League. His strike on the 11th minute became the starting signal for the entire tournament. It is also worth highlighting that the winning goal on the 43rd minute was Ollie Watkins' debut goal in the Champions League — he sealed Villa's lead before the break and effectively predetermined the outcome of the match.

AEK beat LASK without Zubkov

In the second match of the first time slot, AEK narrowly edged out Austria's LASK at home — 1:0. The only goal, scored in the middle of the first half, was credited to Marin. Notably, Alexander Zubkov never made it onto the pitch, yet the Greek club managed to win without his involvement, which was an important opening result for the team in the league phase of the tournament.

Emery's comments after the win

After the match, Aston Villa's head coach Unai Emery commented on the result, noting that his team had plenty of chances to build an even bigger lead over Bruges. Thus, the Birmingham manager acknowledged that the side could have scored more, but ultimately settled for three goals in a tense, high-scoring encounter that opened the 2026/27 Champions League season.