Aston Villa want to be more than a ‘maybe team’ in quest for Europa League

Aston Villa captain John McGinn wants his side to be remembered as more than a “maybe team” in their quest for Europa League glory.

Villa have enjoyed several notable seasons under manager Unai Emery, making their presence felt towards the top of the Premier League and reaching the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

But the Birmingham club, European Cup-winners in 1982, have no silverware to show for their recent efforts and McGinn is determined to bring a trophy back to Villa Park.

The Scotland midfielder, speaking Wednesday on the even of the second leg of their last-16 Europa League tie at home to Lille, with Villa 1-0 up after the opener in France, said: “That’s what the manager has driven into us.

“He’s a manager who has a reputation of not getting close to the finish line, he’s got a reputation of getting over the finish line.

“So we don’t want to be a maybe team. We don’t want to be a team like, ‘Aye, they were not bad’. We want something to show for it.

“And we know we’ve got an expectation and are one of the favourites to win the competition.

“We know that, but it’s up to us to deliver performances and results that prove why we’re one of the favourites because of how we’ve played over the last few years, domestically and in Europe.”

Villa, however, have won just two of their last nine matches in all competitions. But Emery, a three-time Europa League winner as head coach of Spanish side Sevilla, said his current club’s form needed to be put into context.

“It (our form) can feel a little strange, but we are playing the second leg in the last 16 of the Europa League, and when we arrived here three-and-a-half years ago, it was a dream in that moment,” he explained.

“Wow, it was so difficult to think we could achieve it in the period time we have, so quick,” the 54-year-old Spaniard added.

“And how we are being consistent in Premier League, being fourth, even though we have lost in the last three matches, we are fourth in the league.

“It was a huge dream three years ago. Of course, we are being so, so demanding, and sometimes to be demanding like we are, we can become as frustrated.”

Villa will face one of Italian sides Roma or Bologna in the quarter-finals if they can see off Ligue 1 Lille.