Villa goal was nice but Max De Cuyper's focus is now on Tromso

Main Club Sponsor

TICKETS

SHOP

Belgian international was on target in Sunday's Premier League opener and is targeting UEFA Conference League progress.

Nick Szczepanik

2026-08-25T06:00+01:00

Down but definitely not out. Max De Cuyper celebrates his goal against Aston Villa. 📷Paul Hazlewood

Max De Cuyper was delighted with his goal against Aston Villa and his key part in Albion’s opener in a 4-0 victory, but his focus is now on Thursday’s Europa Conference League play-off second leg against Tromso at the Amex.

The goalless draw in Norway in last week’s first leg leaves the tie in the balance. “Yes, it's a big game ahead,” the Belgium wing back said. “We really have to go through. We really want to be in the Conference League.

“I think it's just not easy to start a season there. They are halfway through the season. We played on a synthetic pitch. It's our first game, so all those circumstances came into a 0-0 result, but we didn't have to be that frustrated, because it's a two-leg game. You just have to be aware that you don't lose over there, so it's not a bad result.”

With his defender’s hat on, he is happy with two clean sheets from two competitive games. “Yeah, it's the work of the whole team to keep a clean sheet. It's very important. If you keep a clean sheet and you score, you win the game. It's as simple as that.

“Of course I like to attack and be dangerous up front. It's the role I had [against Aston Villa], so I had to fill it and it went pretty good.”

It certainly did. It was his shot after only eight minutes that went in off the post and Victor Lindelof, who was debited with an own goal – although the stadium scoreboard credited it to him during the game.

It owed everything to Max anticipating defender Pau Torres’ intention. “I sensed that he was going to put the ball just there,” he said. “It's a bit of our type of pressure. We want to press high and everyone has to be alive. It was a good position and I was a bit lucky that the ball came into my feet. I had the feeling that I didn't have a lot of time. I think the goalie was at my back, so I had to react pretty quickly.”

The second goal was the result of Max’s lung-bursting run to get into the penalty area as Georginio Rutter sped away down the left. “He did all the work and gave me the ball into my feet,” Max said. “So, great action by Gini. He was on the wing for that moment, so I had to fill in his spot in the box.

“It's a great feeling to score a goal. I don't score a lot, so if I score, I want to celebrate.”

And he almost had a hat-trick to enjoy, his low shot going just wide. “Maybe it was the moment for me and my career to score the first hat-trick. It didn't happen, but I'm still happy with the goal.”

Photo 1/30

Max De Cuyper and Jack Hinshelwood got Albion off to a flyer, both scoring first half braces as Fabian Hurzeler's team scored four without reply against Aston Villa on the opening day of the new season. Club photographers Paul Hazlewood and James Boardman were on hand to capture all the key moments on a memorable afternoon at the Amex.

His ambition for this season is to do at least as well as in 2025-26, which might be a great achievement in view of the loss of some experienced dressing-room voices over the summer. “Let's say doing at least as good as last season would be a nice goal. And then we'll see where we belong,” he added.

“We lost a lot of characters, good personalities in the team. It's not easy to fill them in now, but we have to. If you want to be competitive in the season, you need characters in the team. So everybody has to step up now and fill these spots in from guys like Welbz, JP [van Hecke].

“We have our captain with Dunky. We have Pascal [Gross] with experience. Bart [Verbruggen] is some years already here. That's only three names that I mentioned now, but there are still a lot of other people that you don't maybe think of. But they step up as well, so it's good.

And Max himself? “If I want to say something, I will also try to help the younger guys. So I will do that if necessary.”