MY BHOYS NIGHT WAS ALMOST A DISASTER

McGinn felt cursed when Villa conceded twice within eight minutes of him coming off bench

-  Fraser Wilson

SCOTLAND hero John McGinn has been living the Champions League dream at Aston Villa, who have a quarter-final against PSG looming - but his outing against Celtic was almost a nightmare.

The midfielder joined the action as a 30th-minute substitute, with his team-mates having stormed into a 2-0 lead at Villa Park.

McGinn, however, inadvertently diverted Greg Taylor’s cross into the path of Adam Idah for Celtic’s first goal. And moments later the Irish striker pounced again to level the scores at 2-2.

All within eight minutes of McGinn’s entrance.

The hapless Villa captain could already imagine the kind of headlines that would be written as he sat in the dressing room at half-time in the Battle of Britain blockbuster against his boyhood heroes on January 29.

In the end, though, it all worked out for manager Unai Emery, right, and his men as they romped to a 4-2 win to seal a top-eight spot and qualification for the last 16.

McGinn has scored two goals in eight appearances so far in the Champions League.

Now he hopes to take that form into the international stage and help Scotland preserve their status as a top-level team in the Nations League by dumping Greece.