---
title: "Nicolas Jackson has already punished Club Brugge as Aston Villa seek spark"
canonical: "https://readastonvilla.com/2026/09/08/nicolas-jackson-champions-league-record-club-brugge/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "James Chettle"
section: "Features & Analysis"
published: "2026-09-08T09:45:00Z"
modified: "2026-10-10T21:46:07Z"
---

# Nicolas Jackson has already punished Club Brugge as Aston Villa seek spark

Aston Villa need someone to end their goalscoring problems against Club Brugge tonight, and Nicolas Jackson arrives in Belgium with a particularly useful piece of recent history.

Jackson is still waiting for his first competitive Villa goal, but the striker enjoyed an impressive Champions League campaign with Bayern Munich last season.

More importantly for Unai Emery, **one of his three Champions League goals came against Club Brugge**.

Jackson came off the bench and scored Bayern’s fourth during a 4-0 victory over the Belgian champions in October 2025, giving Villa’s £65million striker first-hand experience of hurting tonight’s opponents.

That provides another reason for Emery to retain faith in Jackson after we previously explained [why his slow Aston Villa start is no reason to panic](https://readastonvilla.com/2026/09/06/nicolas-jackson-aston-villa-goal-watkins-comparison/?utm_source=chatgpt.com).

> Nico Jackson vs Arsenal [pic.twitter.com/u4Zn2ykP8J](https://t.co/u4Zn2ykP8J)
>
> — 🎥 (@compsbydrix) [August 31, 2026](https://x.com/compsbydrix/status/2094563174489931806?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

## Nicolas Jackson scored against Club Brugge last season

Jackson began Bayern’s home meeting with Club Brugge on the bench before replacing Harry Kane after 69 minutes.

Ten minutes later, he scored.

Club goalkeeper Nordin Jackers initially kept Jackson out during a spell of sustained Bayern pressure, but the Senegal international eventually converted from close range to complete a 4-0 victory.

[Bayern’s official match report confirms Jackson scored the final goal](https://fcbayern.com/en/news/matchreports/2025/10/match-report-champions-league-fc-bayern-v-club-brugge-221025?utm_source=chatgpt.com) after Lennart Karl, Kane and Luis Díaz had established a comfortable first-half lead.

It was one of three goals Jackson scored during Bayern’s run to the Champions League semi-finals.

The other two came away from home.

Jackson opened his Bayern account during a 5-1 league-phase victory over Pafos before producing one of his best European performances of the campaign against Atalanta.

He scored and assisted during Bayern’s 6-1 round-of-16 victory in Bergamo, with [Bayern highlighting Jackson’s contribution to an emphatic away performance](https://fcbayern.com/en/news/2026/03/analysis-of-champions-league-match-at-atalanta?utm_source=chatgpt.com).

## Nicolas Jackson’s Champions League record

Jackson’s complete 2025/26 Champions League numbers make encouraging reading:

| Stat | Total |
| --- | --- |
| Appearances | 10 |
| Starts | 3 |
| Minutes | 316 |
| Goals | 3 |
| Assists | 2 |
| Goal involvements | 5 |

Jackson therefore averaged **one direct Champions League goal involvement every 63 minutes** for Bayern.

He produced those five contributions despite starting only three of his 10 appearances.

[StatMuse records Jackson with three goals and two assists in 316 Champions League minutes](https://www.statmuse.com/fc/ask/nicolas-jackson-stats-with-bayern?l=ucl&utm_source=chatgpt.com), while his goal log shows strikes against Pafos, Club Brugge and Atalanta.

That is a small sample, but it demonstrates that Jackson has previously been capable of making an impact at this level.

## Aston Villa desperately need Jackson breakthrough

The timing could hardly be better for Villa.

Emery’s side have failed to score in each of their opening three Premier League matches, with defeats against Brighton and Arsenal followed by Saturday’s 0-0 draw at Hull City.

There was at least significant progress in chance creation at the MKM Stadium.

Our [analysis of Aston Villa’s xG and goal drought](https://readastonvilla.com/2026/09/05/aston-villa-xg-goal-drought-analysis/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) found Villa generated 1.75 expected goals against Hull after managing only 0.65 across their opening two matches combined.

Jackson had an early headed opportunity himself.

The striker remains without a goal from his first two Premier League appearances for Villa, but he should again lead the attack tonight in our updated [Aston Villa predicted XI against Club Brugge](https://readastonvilla.com/2026/09/06/aston-villa-predicted-xi-vs-club-brugge/?utm_source=chatgpt.com).

Villa will certainly need somebody to rediscover their finishing touch.

Club Brugge have conceded only two goals across their opening five league matches this season, keeping four clean sheets, as detailed in our [Club Brugge scouting report](https://readastonvilla.com/2026/09/06/club-brugge-scouting-report-form-guide/?utm_source=chatgpt.com).

That makes tonight another difficult assignment for an attack still finding its feet after a dramatic summer rebuild.

Jackson, though, knows exactly what scoring against Club Brugge feels like.

After three domestic games without a Villa goal, repeating what he did for Bayern last October would be particularly well timed.