Nicolas Jackson scored his first goal for Aston Villa to end an 11-match run without finding the net in the club’s Champions League league-phase opener against Club Brugge.
The forward took advantage of an error by the experienced Yann Sommer, running through on goal before finishing into an empty net. His strike made the score 3-1 at half-time.
It was Jackson’s first goal since 16 May, when he scored in a Bundesliga match against Koln while playing for Bayern. The Senegal international had been unable to score in each of his 11 appearances since then.
Five of those matches were friendlies. Jackson also went four games without scoring for Senegal at the World Cup, before failing to find the net in two appearances for Aston Villa following his move to the Birmingham club during the recent summer transfer window.
The goal against Club Brugge therefore ended a difficult scoring sequence for the striker and marked his first return to the scoresheet since the final weeks of last season.
Jackson’s finish came after Sommer’s mistake left the Villa forward with a clear path to goal. With the goalkeeper no longer in position to intervene, Jackson kept his composure to complete the move and give Aston Villa a three-goal first-half lead.
The goal also represented an important early milestone in Jackson’s Aston Villa career. He had only recently joined the club and had not scored in either of his first two matches for the side.
Before the Club Brugge fixture, his most recent goal had come almost four months earlier for Bayern against Koln. That gap included a mixture of club, international and friendly matches, but Jackson had remained without a goal throughout all 11 appearances.
His four matches for Senegal at the World Cup formed part of that run, while the other five games were friendlies. The final two matches without a goal came after his summer transfer to Aston Villa.
Jackson’s goal put the outcome of the first half beyond doubt at 3-1, although the available information records the score only at the interval rather than giving the final result.
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