Marcus Rashford delivers defiant message to Aston Villa teammates on Champions League return
Marcus Rashford has issued a defiant message to his Aston Villa teammates ahead of next Wednesday's Champions League round of 16 second leg against Club Brugge.
Villa recorded a fine 3-1 win in the first leg at Jan Breydel Stadium on Tuesday. Leon Bailey gave Unai Emery's side a dream start inside three minutes as he fired home into the bottom corner, but Brugge responded and levelled before the quarter of an hour mark thanks to Maxim De Cuyper's strike.
It felt as though Brugge gained control from this point on, but Villa posed a threat and they enjoyed an excellent late blitz to take a two-goal lead into the second leg. Brandon Mechele put through his own net to give Villa the lead before Marco Asensio scored from the spot to wrap up the victory.
And after the game, Rashford took to Instagram to send a message to his Villa teammates, reiterating that the job isn't complete yet. He said in a caption: "Champions League Nights [sparkles emoji].
"We're at the halfway stage! See you next week."
Rashford wasn't the only Villa player to stay grounded and reiterate that it's just half-time in the round of 16 tie. Several others posted on Instagram with the same message.
Emi Martinez said: "Half time. Let's finish the job at Villa Park!! Thank you for your amazing support Villains!! #UTV."
Ezri Konsa wrote: "Half time [battery emoji] (swipe to the end [laughing face emoji])."
Morgan Rogers continued: "Job half done. Great performance boys!!"
Lucas Digne said: "Half time [green tick emoji, purple love heart emoji, blue love heart emoji]."
Axel Disasi wrote: "Important win today, but the job's not done yet [face with steam from nose emoji, hundred points emoji]."
Leon Bailey continued: "First leg win [green tick emoji] #UTV."
READ MORE: Club Brugge v Aston Villa in pictures
Speaking after his side's win in Brugge, Emery said: "It was like we planned, My expectation was to face the difficulties we had. We had respect and tried to adapt to them more than usual like I’d want. After the analysis we did of the match in November, they have a very good structure with the ball.
"We decided to respect them when they had the ball, keeping good positioning. The most important thing was how we competed in the match, set-pieces and the first goal.
"We competed even more defensively than I wanted. We needed the goalkeeper, Tyrone Mings’ save. We can remember the match we played before here with Tyrone. This time he saved a really important action.
"How the substitutes responded in the last 30 minutes of the first leg, keeping the same game plan [was good]. There are still 90 minutes to play. They won against Atalanta 3-1 and they compete very well."
