McGinn admits Aston Villa lost to ‘the better team’ and vows to learn from mistakes

Aston Villa captain John McGinn admits the better team won after the Premier League side were knocked out of the Europa Conference League semi-finals by Olympiacos.

The Villans trailed 4-2 on aggregate heading into the return leg in Greece and they never really threatened their opponents during the match.

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Despite dominating the ball, Olympiacos’ tactic of sitting deep and playing on the counter-attack worked to perfection and they added two more goals to stretch the overall lead to 6-2.

It was a brace from Ayoub El Kaabi who scored a hat-trick at Villa Park last week and his finishing was the big difference in the tie.

Speaking to TNT Sports after the game, McGinn said: “We went into this competition of favourites and we handle that throughout the competition.

“I think it has been a big learning curve for us.

“This has been a huge learning curve for us”

John McGinn shares his post-match views with @Becky_Ives_ 💭#UECL | 📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/Z73AZxnAaR

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) May 9, 2024

“It’s not been a smooth journey, we got to the semi-final and were down to the bare bones a wee bit.

“However those of us that were out there across the two legs lost to the better team and the scoreline shows that.

“For us going into more European competition next season we need to learn how to manage moments a lot better.

“Of course we wanted to do better this year and get to a European final but we will do everything we can to get ourselves back into this position and get to a final.”

Emery’s assessment

Head coach Unai Emery says his players were not clinical enough and echoed the words of his captain, admitting this is a huge learning experience…

Source link : https://www.101greatgoals.com/news/john-mcginn-aston-villa-europa-conference-league/

Author : Mitch Fretton

Publish date : 2024-05-09 22:00:47

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