Lee Johnson compares Hibs Euro thrashing to driving F1 car as Aston Villa hiding put in rear view mirror

Lee Johnson reckons facing the likes of Aston Villa is like going from driving a normal car to racing in the Formula One.

The Hibs boss bristled as being asked whether the European adventure was 'worth it' after his side were thumped by the Premier League opposition in the Europa Conference League first-leg play-off clash at Easter Road. Unai Emery and Co stuck five past the Easter Road side as John McGinn marked his Leith return with the Villains now out of sight for the second leg in Birmingham next week. It all-but ends a dramatic Euro journey for the Hibees with Johnson now putting the 'bread and butter' of league action into focus.

Hibs are winless from their opening two Scottish Premiership games with defeats to St Mirren and Motherwell leaving Johnson's side sitting second bottom of the league with Livingston the visitors to the capital on Saturday. And while the Englishman reckons the Euro journey was a bumpy ride, but the gulf in competition cannot be understated.

He said: "It is absolutely worth it, I promise you it is worth it [European football]. This is about building the club out, being tested, being stretched. I talk about purposeful practice. You drove your car in today and you're on autopilot, I stick you in a Formula One race and you're going to be like 'pfft, this is different'. That is the equivalent of playing these high-level, high intensity matches."

He added: “The players are fine. Day one after a defeat like that is very sore, physically and emotionally, because we wanted to go into that game and do more than what we did. You have to give a lot of respect to the opposition in terms of how on it and switched on they were, but also for the respect they showed us as a football club in terms of their