John McGinn is Aston Villa’s longest-serving player.
There aren’t many more players at the club who have been more deserving of playing Champions League football in Aston Villa colours than the Scotsman himself.
McGinn helped get Aston Villa back to the Premier League in 2019 by scoring the winning goal in the Championship play-off final against Derby County and also winning the team’s Player of the Season award.
It didn’t stop there because he continued to rise by maintaining Aston Villa’s Premier League status under Dean Smith, before being handed the captain’s armband under Steven Gerrard.
Like many players, McGinn just couldn’t get going under Gerrard, but he has transformed and gone to another level under Unai Emery.
The 30-year-old played Villa’s opening Champions League win over Young Boys, which was an away tie, but he was injured for the Bayern Munich clash.
That meant that he was yet to lead the Midlands side out on home soil in Europe’s elite competition until Bologna came to town.
John McGinn wowed by Aston Villa fans before Bologna game
Nobody at the club deserves it more, but McGinn walking out and seeing the Holte End in its full voice and glory was a moment to cherish for the player.
Gabby Agbonlahor says he noticed McGinn being ‘wowed’ by what he was seeing as he walked out and how the players were ‘outstanding’ on the night, as he told talkSPORT (23/10/24 at 6:10 am).
And, top it all off, McGinn opened the scoring for Villa against Bologna, before Jhon Duran added the finishing touches and three more points were secured.
“What an atmosphere,” said Agbonlahor. “The Aston Villa fans that were at the game, they will be loud.
“But I saw McGinn’s face, as he was walking out, and he was looking. You had the three lions (tifo). He was looking like ‘wow’. Amazing. They have done very well Aston Villa to make that atmosphere even more tough for the away teams, but the players on the pitch were outstanding.”
McGinn’s stats for Villa against Bologna
Added to his goal, it was an all-round strong display from the man with the armband and he complimented Villa’s Man of the Match Morgan Rogers really well.
It needs to be noted that McGinn was on the bench for Villa’s impressive win over Fulham at the weekend, so that shows the strength in depth the team has.
WhoScored handed the all-action midfielder a rating of 7.61 after the game and you have to say that it was very much deserved.
| Shots | Key passes | Passing accuracy | Aerials won | Touches | Ratings |
| 2 | 1 | 73.9 | 1 | 36 | 7.61 |
