Aston Villa swept aside Hibernian 5-0 at Easter Road on Wednesday night in the first leg of their Europa Conference League play-off to all but secure their passage to the group stage.
Ollie Watkins scored a hat-trick on the night, while Lucas Digne registered three assists as Unai Emery's side put Hibs to the sword. Leon Bailey and Douglas Luiz also got in on the act to give Villa a five-goal advantage heading into next Thursday's second leg at Villa Park.
After full-time, Hibs boss Lee Johnson admitted there was a clear gulf of talent between the two sets of players, and insisted that his side were on a hiding to nothing given that Premier League players have "almost superhuman" qualities. One of the Villa stars he was referring to must have been John McGinn, who returned to Edinburgh with Villa on Wednesday after playing for the Hibees for three years.
McGINN'S WARNING TO VILLA TEAMMATES
The Scotland international warned his Villa teammates before the game not to underestimate Hibernian and that they had to carry out an honest and professional job to avoid a scare. Villa opened the scoring on the 17th minute through Watkins, who planted his header beyond David Marshall, but it was a frantic start to the game and the hosts fed off their support.
"He [Emery] wasn't happy in the first half," McGinn told the BBC after the win. "He thought we could have been a lot calmer on the ball and we kind of got sucked into the atmosphere a wee bit, but he is a mental tactician and goes into a lot of detail.
"After the first 10 or 15 minutes tonight we showed our class and deserved it. A lot of the game I was kind of standing still, but there's so much detail, sort of the Spanish way, when we grew up, if you took more than three touches you get your shins taken off you."
McGinn won't tell you that he's dreamt of lifting the trophy in Athens in May, but it's a distinct possibility given the level of quality in Villa's ranks.
He added: "I don't think there's any secret, he's [Emery] very passionate about European competitions, he's got a great record. I think we'd be stupid to try and get away from it, we are up there as one of the two or three favourites but we will treat every single game the same.
"We will go to places that are really tough to play in and it doesn't really matter that we have the highest budget or one of the highest budgets in the competition, you have to respect everyone and that's what we will do."
EMERY PRAISES McGINN'S 'FANTASTIC' MENTALITY
It was always going to be a night to remember for McGinn, who owes a lot to Hibernian for helping him get his career back on track after meeting a crossroads at the time of his exit from St. Mirren in 2015. While he couldn't get on the scoresheet, his role in helping his teammates prepare for the match was invaluable and he earned more praise from his manager after full-time.
Emery said of his skipper: "John McGinn is amazing, I know you love him more than me! When the match finished, I told him we are not running anymore because he always wants to run, be competitive and really, we are very happy with him, not only as a player but as a person.
"His commitment is very high and he is always positive, smiling in the bad and good moments. He keeps the same mentality, it’s fantastic."
PROFESSIONAL PERFORMANCE PLEASES EMERY
Emery held meetings with his analysts about Hibernian's recent performances earlier this month and has treated the match with respect. Emery and his excellent team of staff will equip his players with all the tools they need to overcome their upcoming opponent.
However, his players still need to perform and carry out a professional job. Judging by their first performance in the Europa Conference League, they will take some stopping, albeit they were playing a side whose budget compares with a League One club.
"We will face many difficult moments," Emery said when asked about the possibility of going deep in the competition. "The Premier League is the first and most competitive competition for us, and we will have difficult matches, like against Newcastle.
"Then, I want to add another competition being important trying to do something, the FA Cup, the Carabao Cup and in Europe, for me, is always special. Hopefully we can be a candidate to get a trophy and for the supporters as well, we are in one club, 40 years as go they won the Champions League and of course the Conference is the third competition in Europe, but there are a lot of very good teams.
"We are very respectful to this competition, the Conference League. For us, it is very important to be in Europe and to be a candidate to do something, and second, it was to be respectful of them, Hibernian. They deserved to be here and they had a good support in the stadium. We stopped them and played very serious, disciplined and we now take a very good advantage for the second leg."
Asked if he expected a harder test from Hibs, Emery replied: "If we weren't playing disciplined, weren’t playing seriously or consistently, then we could have problems. We were speaking before the match, we always have to respect the opponent and the competition.
"We have to be focused on the game plan, we could lose, and the mentality I want to create here is to be focused, and be disciplined and be consistent in 90 minutes. We did it, and for us it’s important because it’s not just the match we played tonight, we want to do something in the Conference."
MARTINEZ CARRYING SMALL PROBLEM
The only blot on an otherwise perfect evening for Villa was that Emi Martinez came off at half-time after he felt some discomfort. He wasn't tested throughout the first half, before Robin Olsen replaced him for the second period.
"He told us in the first half that he had a small pain," Emery said. "We didn’t want to take a risk with him and we decided to play with Robin Olsen in the second half.
"Of course, we need two goalkeepers and more, Filip [Marschall] is on the bench and could come, hopefully not. We need to be ready with different goalkeepers."
ZANIOLO'S ABSENCE EXPLAINED
Emery had thought Nicolo Zaniolo would be able to make his Villa debut against Hibernian, but that wasn't to be the case. The 24-year-old featured in the preliminary rounds of the Champions League with Galatasaray this season, and was therefore unable to feature for Villa in another qualification round of a UEFA competition.
Article 44.06 of UEFA's rules state: "A player may not play in the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and/or UEFA Europa Conference League for more than one club in the course of the same season. Exceptionally, however, a player who has been fielded in the preliminary round, or in the first, second, third qualifying round or the play-offs of the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League or UEFA Europa Conference League is entitled to play in the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League or UEFA Europa Conference League for another club as from the group stage."
Therefore, Zaniolo will not feature in the second leg of Villa's play-off against Hibs, but he will be able to play in the group stage matches and in the knockout rounds.
