John McGinn on why Aston Villa boss Unai Emery will be among greats

Tuesday’s 2-0 win over Bologna sent Villa top of the Champions League and club captain McGinn says players are excited at what can be achieved this season.

Thursday will mark two years since Emery was appointed with Villa sat just above the Premier League relegation zone and their remarkable transformation shows no sign of slowing down.

McGinn, who claimed the manager is building something “amazing”, says there is no chance he will allow players to take their foot off the gas.

He said: We are excited. I think the manager is the only person who does not get excited.

“He just focuses his full energy all the time, like he says, every single day he is that demanding on us.

“He does not let us take our foot off the gas so we can use energy and enthusiasm, the excitement we have. His determination and intensity is unmatched.

“No matter what happens from now until whenever he leaves - we hope it’s never - he will certainly go down as one of our club’s greatest managers.”

Villa have not won a major trophy since the League Cup in 1996 but Emery’s team, who also sit fourth in the Premier League, have supporters believing the drought can be ended.

McGinn continued: “He is just so driven. I have never met anyone like him.

“He has said to me a few times, he was an OK footballer but he wishes he had the determination and workrate he has as a manager.

“No-one can question what he puts in, the effort and everything which comes his way and our way is on the back of hard work.

“You feed off your leader. He is our leader and we feed off that. He is certainly improving a lot of us. There is a great feeling to the place.

“I know there are things we can improve on and off the pitch. We are aware of those things.

“But we are going in the right direction and hopefully everything can align over the next couple of years.”

McGinn scored the opening goal in Tuesday’s win with Jhon Duran then netting for the seventh time this season, as Villa made it three wins from three Champions League matches so far in their first season back in Europe’s elite club competition for 41 years.

The skipper admitted the target is now to finish in the top-eight of the league phase, which would secure progression straight through to the last-16, skipping the play-off round.

McGinn said: “We are proud of where we are, top of the league table at the minute. It has put us in a great position to go and kick on.

“Our aim is obviously to qualify first and foremost for the next round but if we can take it into the top eight and carry this on it would be brilliant.

“It is similar to last year, finishing top of the Conference League group meant you missed the play-off round.

“With the schedule and the amount of games you can play, we want to go as far as we can in the Carabao Cup and FA Cup.

“We have Palace here next week and want to win that. So missing two games would be a bonus but if we need to play them, we need to play them. There will be no complaints because we are in the top flight of European football.”