Super-sub Asensio has explosive impact as fireworks greet Villa passage to Champions League quarters

Fireworks exploded above the stadium at the final whistle to greet Aston Villa's progress to the Champions League quarterfinals in the club’s first season in Europe’s top competition in 41 years.

There's no doubting who made the most explosive impact in Villa's 3-0 win over Club Brugge on Wednesday.

Marco Asensio lived up to his status as the most prolific substitute in Champions League history with two more goals off the bench after coming on at halftime.

Make that 12 goals in 51 games as a substitute in the competition for the Spanish forward. On both counts, that's more than any other player, according to stats provided by Villa.

Next for Asensio is a two-legged matchup against Paris Saint-Germain, the French club he left to ignite his career at Villa Park with the 1982 European champions.

He's sure doing that.

The 29-year-old Asensio, who first made his name in a nearly decade-long stint at Real Madrid, has scored seven goals in his last five games for Villa — where he has slotted in seamlessly following his a deadline-day move in Europe's winter transfer window.

Three of them have come against Brugge, having also converted a penalty in Villa's 3-1 win in the first leg in Belgium last week.

Eight days on, he could even have grabbed a hat trick as he also hit the post with a shot between his goals in the 50th and 61st minute.

“We are still adapting, all the new players," said Asensio, referring to fellow recent arrivals Marcus Rashford and Axel Disasi, "but I think that we are in the right way, and keep pushing.

“I am very comfortable, very happy with the teammates, with the fans, with the city, so keep continuing."

The exploits of Asensio and his teammates got the royal seal of approval Wednesday, with Prince William at Villa Park to watch his favorite team play.

The prince visited Villa's Bodymoor Heath training ground on Tuesday to wish the players luck ahead of the second leg. He had been in the area carrying out an official engagement at a referee training course.

Ian Maatsen also scored in the second half for Villa, one of two English teams to reach the last eight along with Arsenal.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Aston Villa's Marco Asensio scores his side's third goal during the Champions League round of 16 second leg soccer match between Aston Villa and Club Brugge at the Villa Park stadium in Birmingham, England, Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Darren Staples)

Brugge's goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, front, reacts after Aston Villa's Marco Asensio scoring his side's third goal during the Champions League round of 16 second leg soccer match between Aston Villa and Club Brugge at the Villa Park stadium in Birmingham, England, Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Darren Staples)

Britain's Prince William, top second from right, reacts after Aston Villa scored their first goal during the Champions League round of 16 second leg soccer match between Aston Villa and Club Brugge at the Villa Park stadium in Birmingham, England, Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (Nick Potts/PA via AP)

Aston Villa's goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, right, and Aston Villa's Pau Torres celebrate at the end of the Champions League round of 16 second leg soccer match between Aston Villa and Club Brugge at the Villa Park stadium in Birmingham, England, Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Darren Staples)

Aston Villa's Marco Asensio celebrates after scoring opening goal during the Champions League round of 16 second leg soccer match between Aston Villa and Club Brugge at the Villa Park stadium in Birmingham, England, Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (Jacob King/PA via AP)

Britain's Prince William, top right, reacts during the Champions League round of 16 second leg soccer match between Aston Villa and Club Brugge at the Villa Park stadium in Birmingham, England, Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Darren Staples)

Fireworks explode over Villa Park before the Champions League round of 16 second leg soccer match between Aston Villa and Club Brugge at the Villa Park stadium in Birmingham, England, Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (Nick Potts/PA via AP)

Aston Villa's Marco Asensio, right, celebrates with Aston Villa's Morgan Rogers after scoring his side's third goal during the Champions League round of 16 second leg soccer match between Aston Villa and Club Brugge at the Villa Park stadium in Birmingham, England, Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Darren Staples)

RHO, Italy (AP) — No ice is colder and harder than speedskating ice. The precision it takes has meant that Olympic speedskaters have never competed for gold on a temporary indoor rink – until the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games.

In the pursuit of maximum glide and minimum friction, Olympic officials brought on ice master Mark Messer, a veteran of six previous Olympic speedskating tracks and the ice technician in charge of the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Canada — one of the fastest tracks in the world with over 300 records.

Messer has been putting that experience to work one thin layer of ice at a time since the end of October at the new Speed Skating Stadium, built inside adjacent trade fair halls in the city of Rho just north of Milan.

“It’s one of the biggest challenges I’ve had in icemaking,’’ Messer said during an interview less than two weeks into the process.

If Goldilocks were a speedskater, hockey ice would be medium hard, for fast puck movement and sharp turns. Figure skating ice would be softer, allowing push off for jumps and so the ice doesn’t shatter on landing. Curling ice is the softest and warmest of all, for controlled sliding.

For speedskating ice to be just right, it must be hard, cold and clean. And very, very smooth.

“The blades are so sharp, that if there is some dirt, the blade will lose the edge,’’ Messer said, and the skater will lose speed.

Speedskater Enrico Fabris, who won two Olympic golds in Turin in 2006, has traded in his skates to be deputy sports manager at the speedskating venue in Rho. For him, perfect ice means the conditions are the same for all skaters — and then if it's fast ice, so much the better.

"It's more of a pleasure to skate on this ice,'' he said.

Messer’s first Olympics were in Calgary in 1988 — the first time speedskating was held indoors. “That gave us some advantages because we didn’t have to worry about the weather, wind blowing or rain,’’ he said. Now he is upping the challenge by becoming the first ice master to build a temporary rink for the Olympics.

Before Messer arrived in Italy, workers spent weeks setting up insulation to level the floor and then a network of pipes and rubber tubes that carry glycol — an antifreeze — that is brought down to minus 7 or minus 8 degrees Celsius (17.6 to 19.4 degrees Fahrenheit) to make the ice.

Water is run through a purification system — but it can’t be too pure, or the ice that forms will be too brittle. Just the right amount of impurities “holds the ice together,’’ Messer said.

The first layers of water are applied slowly, with a spray nozzle; after the ice reaches a few centimeters it is painted white — a full day’s work — and the stripes are added to make lanes.

“The first one takes about 45 minutes. And then as soon as it freezes, we go back and do it again, and again and again. So we do it hundreds of times,’’ Messer said.

As the ice gets thicker, and is more stable, workers apply subsequent layers of water with hoses. Messer attaches his hose to hockey sticks for easier spreading.

What must absolutely be avoided is dirt, dust or frost — all of which can cause friction for the skaters, slowing them down. The goal is that when the skaters push “they can go as far as possible with the least amount of effort,’’ Messer said.

The Zamboni ice resurfacing machine plays a key role in keeping the track clean, cutting off a layer and spraying water to make a new surface.

One challenge is gauging how quickly the water from the resurfacing machine freezes in the temporary rink.

Another is getting the ice to the right thickness so that the Zamboni, weighing in at six tons, doesn’t shift the insulation, rubber tubing or ice itself.

“When you drive that out, if there’s anything moving it will move. We don’t want that,’’ Messer said.

The rink got its first big test on Nov. 29-30 during a Junior World Cup event. In a permanent rink, test events are usually held a year before the Olympics, leaving more time for adjustments. “We have a very small window to learn,’’ Messer acknowledged.

Dutch speedskater Kayo Vos, who won the men’s neo-senior 1,000 meters, said the ice was a little soft — but Messer didn’t seem too concerned.

“We went very modest to start, now we can start to change the temperatures and try to make it faster and still maintain it as a safe ice,’’ he said.

Fine-tuning the air temperature and humidity and ice temperature must be done methodically — taking into account that there will be 6,000 spectators in the venue for each event. The next real test will be on Jan. 31, when the Olympians take to the ice for their first training session.

“Eighty percent of the work is done but the hardest part is the last 20 percent, where we have to try to find the values and the way of running the equipment so all the skaters get the same conditions and all the skaters get the best conditions,’’ Messer said.

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Serpentines are set on the ice of the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Workers clean the ice surface during a peed skating Junior World Cup and Olympic test event, in Rho, near Milan, Italy, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)