John McGinn outlines Aston Villa's Champions League target

Tuesday’s 2-0 win over Bologna made it three wins from three matches for Unai Emery’s men and sent them top of the 36-team table.

With five games remaining in the group stage, Villa are now well-placed to kick on and secure a top-eight finish which would send them straight through to the last-16, skipping the play-off round in the extended, revamped competition.

McGinn, who scored the opening goal against Bologna, 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 (in the Carabao Cup) 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.”

Villa, who have kept just one clean sheet in the Premier League, are yet to concede in Europe this season and followed up wins over Young Boys and Bayern Munich by beating Bologna.

McGinn opened the scoring when his 55th-minute free-kick evaded everyone to end up in the corner of the net, before Jhon Duran scored his seventh goal of the season to double the advantage.

The goal was McGinn’s first since scoring in April’s Europa Conference League quarter-final against Lille with the Scotland international, who suffered a hamstring injury in last month’s win over Wolves, revealing he had made a quicker than expected return to fitness in order to start against Bologna. “In my timeline for injury this game was a little bit tight for it but I worked hard with the physios and staff here to get back,” said McGinn, who had come off the bench in Saturday’s 3-1 win at Fulham.

“The weekend was a sort of test. I remember chasing the goalkeeper late in the game and thinking: ‘Right, I am ready to come back in’.”

McGinn’s goal mirrored the one he scored in a 3-2 defeat at Manchester United last season and while it undoubtedly contained an element of fortune, he revealed the delivery had been a focus of training in days leading up to the game.

“The goal is something we work on,” he said. “It happened at Man United last season, aim for the back post.

“I felt a bit of a fraud celebrating, but it meant a lot. We work on it a lot.

“The wide free-kicks at home to United the other week were a bit of a problem so we worked on it a couple of days ago pretty heavily. I think the boys were quite close to getting a touch but thankfully it went all the way in and I will take it.

“I was desperate (to score). It has been a long drought for club and country. It has something which has been bothering me.

“I was delighted with my shot on target in the first half because that is something which has been a long time coming. It is a nice weight off my shoulders and hopefully the catapult to many more.”