Nicolas Jackson Aston Villa goal rea

Nicolas Jackson believes there is much more to come from both himself and Aston Villa after opening his account in Tuesday night’s 3-2 Champions League victory over Club Brugge.

The striker scored Villa’s third goal shortly before half-time in Belgium, beating Yann Sommer to Pau Torres’ long pass before finishing into an empty net.

It was Jackson’s first goal since his £65million summer move from Chelsea and came on his third start for Unai Emery’s side. BBC Sport described the Senegal international as one of the players expected to lead Villa’s rebuilt attack following Ollie Watkins’ departure.

Speaking after the match, Jackson made clear he is already looking forward rather than dwelling on Villa’s difficult opening weeks.

“We don’t care about the past.”

Jackson added that Villa have ambitions but must approach the season one match at a time, before delivering an encouraging message about his own start to life at the club.

“Hopefully, there are many more to come.”

BBC Sport carried Jackson’s post-match comments, while TNT Sports has also released his interview and says the striker hopes the goal can give him greater confidence going forward.

Unai Emery: "We lacked runs in behind against Hull, but today we did it more. Jackson is a striker who likes to drop and he needs someone running. We were pushing in the last training session for him to be the last man running in behind."#AVFC
— John Townley (@johntownley11) September 8, 2026

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Jackson gets Aston Villa breakthrough

The timing of Jackson’s first goal is significant.

Villa entered the Club Brugge game having failed to score in their opening three Premier League matches, placing increasing attention on a completely reshaped attack.

John McGinn finally broke that drought after 11 minutes before Emi Buendía restored Villa’s advantage following Hugo Vetlesen’s equaliser.

Jackson then provided the decisive third.

Our Club Brugge 2-3 Aston Villa match report details how Torres released the striker behind the home defence before he punished Sommer’s decision to race from his goal.

It was also another positive addition to Jackson’s strong Champions League scoring record.

The challenge now is translating that European breakthrough into the Premier League.

Villa host Nottingham Forest on Saturday looking for their first domestic victory of the campaign, and Jackson’s comments suggest he has little intention of treating one goal in Bruges as anything more than a starting point.