The Champions League returns with Real Madrid back in action. Aston Villa starts with a win

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Aston Villa put its domestic problems behind it with a 3-2 win over Club Brugge in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Victory in Belgium ended Villa's winless and goalless start to its 2026-27 season, after early struggles in the Premier League.

John McGinn recorded the first goal of the Champions League campaign with a sweeping low shot from an angle in the 11th minute. Hugo Vetlesen equalized for Brugge, but Emiliano Buendia and Nicolas Jackson put Villa 3-1 up by the break.

Nicolo Tresoldi scored for the home team with a 61st-minute penalty, but Villa held on for the win.

Villa coach Unai Emery will hope victory kickstarts his team's season after the summer departures of star players Morgan Rogers, Ollie Watkins, Ezri Konsa and Emi Martinez.

His much-changed team lost to Brighton and Arsenal in the Premier League and picked up its first point of the season with a goalless draw against newly promoted Hull on Saturday. It had recorded only one shot on target in those three games.

AEK Athens beat LASK 1-0 thanks to Razvan Marin's first-half goal.

Real Madrid was kicking off its Champions League campaign against Inter Milan later Tuesday with new coach Jose Mourinho aiming to win the trophy for a third time.

Mourinho is back at Madrid for a second spell after managing the club from 2010-13.

He won La Liga and the Copa del Rey during that time but not the Champions League. Since then, Madrid has gone on to dominate European club soccer's biggest trophy, winning it six more times and extending its record to 15 titles.

And while another Champions League would see Mourinho join Pep Guardiola, Luis Enrique, Zinedine Zidane and Bob Paisley on three titles, he doesn't feel the need to make up for the fact that he didn't win it in his first spell in Madrid.

“I finished my work here in 2013. We won what we won, and we lost what we lost. We gave everything, but it’s a closed chapter,” Mourinho said. “This has nothing to do with the past, absolutely nothing."

Madrid hosts Mourinho’s former club Inter at the Santiago Bernabeu. Mourinho won the Champions League with Inter in 2010, having previously won with Porto in 2004.

Other games include Manchester City at Porto, while Borussia Dortmund hosts Villarreal. Lille faces Real Betis.

Two-time defending champion Paris Saint-Germain plays on Wednesday at home against Slovan Bratislava.

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James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson

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