John McGinn targets Celtic Champions League blow and reveals reason he DIDN'T want to draw boyhood heroes

John McGinn admits he can’t wait for the chance to shoot down Celtic after being drawn against his boyhood heroes in the Champions League.

The Aston Villa midfielder is gearing up for his debut on the top stage of European football and, as luck would have it, the Villans were draw against the Scottish champions. It'll be the first time the 29-year-old has faced the side he grew up supporting since the Hoops failed in a bid to sign him from Hibs six years ago.

McGinn has already been inundated with ticket requests for the Villa Park clash on January 29. The matchday eight fixture could well determine whether either or both make it through the new ‘league phase’ of the competition. But while he’s not sure where his Hoops-daft family’s loyalties will lie, McGinn says he’ll be desperate to deliver a blow to Brendan Rodgers’ side. He said: “You always have your team that you support growing up. It never, never leaves you. But when you play for a club, that's the team you support and you've got a job to do.

“It never affected me as a player. I made my St Mirren debut against Celtic. I always managed to do alright against them. So hopefully it's the same in January.

“But it certainly will be a little bit different being such a big game on the biggest stage. I think the lads will want to play at Celtic Park because I've ramped on about European nights there so many times to them.

“Obviously it’s my first experience in the Champions League, it’s very exciting for me and obviously to play against Celtic. It'll be a bit strange, I speaking to Greg Taylor and James Forrest and we just had a laugh about it. But when the game comes up we'll be wanting to beat each other on the biggest stage.

“Was I hoping to get Celtic? Not really!