A FIRST taste of Champions League football this season has been the thing of dreams for John McGinn.
Apart from the bit where he got his 'first Celtic assist'.
The Scotland and Aston Villa hero admits he could already see the headlines as he sat in the Villa Park dressing room at half-time in the Battle of Britain blockbuster against his boyhood heroes.
How he climbed off the bench to turn the game by inadvertently diverting Greg Taylor's cross into the path of Adam Idah for Celtic's first goal.
How, within eight minutes of his entrance, Villa had thrown away a two-goal lead.
And how half his Hoops-daft family were secretly loving it in the stands above him as he went through the wringer down in the bowels of the stadium.
In the end it all worked out perfectly as Unai Emery's men romped to a 4-2 win to seal a top-eight spot and qualification for the last 16.
Villa have now blazed into the quarter-finals where they will face PSG as punters dare to dream of a repeat of their finest moment in 1982.
Skipper McGinn has scored two goals in eight appearances so far in European football's premier competition.
Now he hopes to take his performances from the top bracket of club football onto the international stage and help Scotland save their status as a top-level team in the Nations League by dumping Greece.
Back north of the border and speaking about that Celtic clash seven weeks ago for the first time, McGinn said: "I was gutted not to start after working so hard to get back fit.
"I was even more devastated at half-time when the aggregate score of me coming on was 2-0 Celtic.
"The story was written, the narrative was there, I could feel it. I got my first assist for Celtic, all those ones!
"It was strange but thankfully for us it was a massive night, a really important victory in the end. But there was a story certainly written at half-time which was challenging.
image [https://cdn.magzter.com/1583517504/1742347059/articles/BcickBwa4YdgvdPG4Vsys/2114187244.jpg]
"My family? Some of them were probably celebrating it at the time to be honest, which made the night trickier were probably celebrating it at the time to be honest, which made the night trickier!
"At half-time the manager was really good because he knew it was just one of those things. Celtic scored two good goals but we'd started the game on fire. I wasn't supposed to play longer than what I did.
"I was supposed to, I think, only be 45 minutes max, but when Matty Cash went down, I had a few worries in my head about the hamstring. I thought 'oh no' but adrenaline got me through and thankfully in the end we got a good result.
"One minute I'm sitting a couple of yards away from Tony Ralston. I said, 'I'm not getting on here'. Three minutes later, no real warm-up, I'm on the pitch and it's 2-2.
"Aye, I've had some brilliant experiences this year in the Champions League. That was another great night under a lot of pressure and hopefully I can use those experiences to deliver a performance for Scotland."
McGinn ad...
Apart from the bit where he got his 'first Celtic assist'.
The Scotland and Aston Villa hero admits he could already see the headlines as he sat in the Villa Park dressing room at half-time in the Battle of Britain blockbuster against his boyhood heroes.
How he climbed off the bench to turn the game by inadvertently diverting Greg Taylor's cross into the path of Adam Idah for Celtic's first goal.
How, within eight minutes of his entrance, Villa had thrown away a two-goal lead.
And how half his Hoops-daft family were secretly loving it in the stands above him as he went through the wringer down in the bowels of the stadium.
In the end it all worked out perfectly as Unai Emery's men romped to a 4-2 win to seal a top-eight spot and qualification for the last 16.
Villa have now blazed into the quarter-finals where they will face PSG as punters dare to dream of a repeat of their finest moment in 1982.
Skipper McGinn has scored two goals in eight appearances so far in European football's premier competition.
Now he hopes to take his performances from the top bracket of club football onto the international stage and help Scotland save their status as a top-level team in the Nations League by dumping Greece.
Back north of the border and speaking about that Celtic clash seven weeks ago for the first time, McGinn said: "I was gutted not to start after working so hard to get back fit.
"I was even more devastated at half-time when the aggregate score of me coming on was 2-0 Celtic.
"The story was written, the narrative was there, I could feel it. I got my first assist for Celtic, all those ones!
"It was strange but thankfully for us it was a massive night, a really important victory in the end. But there was a story certainly written at half-time which was challenging.
image [https://cdn.magzter.com/1583517504/1742347059/articles/BcickBwa4YdgvdPG4Vsys/2114187244.jpg]
"My family? Some of them were probably celebrating it at the time to be honest, which made the night trickier were probably celebrating it at the time to be honest, which made the night trickier!
"At half-time the manager was really good because he knew it was just one of those things. Celtic scored two good goals but we'd started the game on fire. I wasn't supposed to play longer than what I did.
"I was supposed to, I think, only be 45 minutes max, but when Matty Cash went down, I had a few worries in my head about the hamstring. I thought 'oh no' but adrenaline got me through and thankfully in the end we got a good result.
"One minute I'm sitting a couple of yards away from Tony Ralston. I said, 'I'm not getting on here'. Three minutes later, no real warm-up, I'm on the pitch and it's 2-2.
"Aye, I've had some brilliant experiences this year in the Champions League. That was another great night under a lot of pressure and hopefully I can use those experiences to deliver a performance for Scotland."
McGinn ad...
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Daily Record (Digital) - 1 Issue, March 19, 2025