Three league matches without a goal or rarely looking like scoring one might have made the trip to Bruges look more difficult than it should have, although there was also the feeling that like last season, Europe would be the place where the season really begins.

The players might have changed since our last European trip but the weather certainly hadn’t. As expected, Unai made a couple of changes, with Pau Torres returning and Joao Gomes interrupting his suspension to have a go at redeeming himself. There was barely ten minutes gone when Pau Torres did his best Alan Hutton impersonation, storming through midfield to lay the ball off for John McGinn, whose perfectly-placed shot gave Villa their first goal of the season and him a club-record twelfth in Europe.

Annoyingly, it wasn’t very long before Brugge equalised, when Aaron Wan-Bissaka could perhaps have done better in attempting to cut out the cross from which the home side scored. Still, three minutes later Gomes and Nicolas Jackson did some typical Villa opening of the Brugge defence to let Emiliano Buendia put Villa into the lead again.

And if that wasn’t enough, two minutes before half-time Torres laid on another goal, when his long ball upfield caught out the home keeper and Jackson was able to round and score his first for the Villa. It took long enough for us to score but once we did, the team looked like getting plenty more.

But for all the recently-acquired continental experience Villa have acquired, there was still time for old habits to die hard. Wan-Bissaka put his arm where he shouldn’t, VAR did its work and Brugge were back in the match. It might have been a bit hairy at times after that but there were still opportunities to make the scoreline even more convincing.

At the final whistle, though, 3-2 was good enough to get Villa’s first win and it was against opposition that might not have been of the quality we’ll be facing later in the tournament but they regularly win the Belgian league and they’ve been doing well this season.

Gomes certainly did make up for his debut, and looks like he’ll be a useful addition to the centre of Villa’s midfield. Jackson also continued to impress and his first goal will be followed by plenty more. Another bonus was Alysson, who looks as though he’s put his injury problems behind him and was a danger from when he came on midway through the second half.