Aston Villa are Champions League contenders, insists John McGinn

Aston Villa captain John McGinn says the best could be yet to come from his side this season as they look to create "history".

Villa are challenging on three fronts as they are in the last 16 of the Champions League, the FA Cup quarter-finals and still in the race for a top-four finish in the Premier League.

Their attention turns to Europe today as they play at Club Brugge (5.45pm) in the first leg of the round of 16, hoping for revenge after November's 1-0 defeat in Belgium in the league phase.

While boss Unai Emery has been at pains to say his side are not favourites in each of the competitions they remain in, McGinn knows "something special" could be on the horizon.

"Of course, we’re in the competitions, we are contenders to win every competition we’re in," the Scotland international said. "In certain competitions we are more fancied than others.

"But of course, being in the competition, we are contenders, and going towards the end of the season, it’s brilliant that we’ve got so much to look forward to.

"We’ve got an opportunity to make some history, but (there’s) a long, long way to go in each competition.

"And I think the exciting thing for us is we know we’ve not had top form yet. We’ve still got a lot more to give.

"There’s been a big inconsistency about us this season, so hopefully towards the end of the season we start to click more consistently, and we can do something special.

"We don’t listen too much to what a manager has to say in press conferences because we know we may say things that we regret. So as I said we are probably not favourites, but we are contenders.

"We’ve got a very difficult tie over two legs here, and our full focus is on that. Get a spot of revenge, obviously, tomorrow night hopefully."

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