John McGinn reckons he’s going to have a ball in the Champions League as he finally gets a crack at the competition that had him hooked as a Celtic fan.
The Aston Villa hero will make his bow in Europe’s top tier on Tuesday as Uni Emery’s men take to the greatest stage of all for the first time in 41 years when they face Young Boys Bern in Switzerland. Then he’ll square up with the Hoops in the Midlands after Christmas. McGinn will get a kick from facing superstars at iconic stadia – but even more so from the Champions League clobber.
The Scotland favourite told the Mirror: “Everyone talks about wanting to hear the anthem – and I’m no different – but I’m more excited to be playing with the bibs and the balls. I’ve watched the Celtic lads wear them for years. I’m not joking! We got them for the first time after the Everton game on Sunday morning. I can’t tell you how proud and happy that made me.”
McGinn reckons tonight will be even more special as he feared his number up at Villa when the new manager arrived. The midfielder will never forget the conversation with Emery that opened the door for him to the Champions League.
Why would he? It’s highly unlikely he would have made it, had that brief exchange never taken place. It was late November, almost two years ago, and Emery was preparing for his first match, at Villa Park, against Manchester United. He pulled McGinn in the team hotel the night before. Villa’s skipper takes up the story.
McGinn said: “At the time, I had just lost my place in the team. The manager told me that he was advised that he would have to change the captain and move me on. He said, ‘I’ve been told this about you but I’ll make my own judgement. ‘If my own judgement is that I don’t see you being involved here then I’ll make it clear and I’ll let you know.’ He told me that my last ten games hadn’t been good. But he said he’d watched the ten before that and they were. He asked: “Can you tell me why that is?
“I was thinking, ‘Why has he watched 20 games of mine?’ I thought my time was up. A few games later, we played Brentford and won convincingly. I remember thinking: ‘I’m not going to be part of this.’ I thought I was finished. You start hearing from other clubs you might be available and you think: ‘What? Am I?’ But he saw something I didn’t see myself. From there, he worked with me tirelessly. I never looked back.
“I’ll be grateful for him ignoring that external noise and internal noise to make his own judgement. It was a tough moment for me, personally. Looking back now, the week before Villa play in the Champions League, I think I’ve proved him right and others wrong. But those others aren’t at the club anymore, so that’s good.”
It’s not only a dream for McGinn. It’s one for at least one generation of Villa fans – maybe more – who have never seen the club dine at European football’s top table. He can hardly believe the positive rate of change at Villa Park.
And he’s not alone, although last year’s Europa Conference League campaign did expose the club to competition on the continent again. And he said that while Villa will be an unknown quality, they will be respected.
He said: “In Europe, I know we had our good moments but we did fail in the end. When you go away with your national teams we have got a lot of players who represent the best countries in Europe. So, teams on the continent know the best players, they’re aware of the good the manager is. They’re aware of how good we are and how much we could achieve.
“The club is becoming more attractive to the best players. Like Ian Maatsen, he was in the Champions League final last season. He decided this is club that could potentially do the same. We’re attracting players from international teams that are well-known around Europe. If we are not already recognised, we’re trying to develop that reputation. But if teams don’t study us in depth I think our system could cause them problems. They’ll get a surprise. For us, being a Pot Four team, technically, we’re going in as the underdogs but I’m sure we’ll go into games evenly-matched and we’ll give any of them a run for their money.”