Aston Villa skipper talks after humiliating loss against Olympiakos in UEFA Europa Conference League semi-final

Despite losing in the semi-finals to Olympiakos, John McGinn feels Aston Villa's UEFA Europa Conference League run has served as a "learning curve". Unai Emery's side missed out on the final after losing 6-2 on aggregate against the Greeks.

Aston Villa F.C. went over to Karaiskakis Stadium looking for a memorable comeback after losing the first leg 4-2 in their own backyard, but they were unable to overcome the deficit.

John Mcginn spoke to the media after the side’s defeat to Olympiacos, "Believe it or not we actually started the game very well. The first half was a really good performance by us, but over the two legs [it is] very, very disappointing obviously. We went into this competition as favourites and we handle that throughout the competition. I think it has been a big learning curve for us. It's not been a smooth journey, we got to the semi-final and were down to the bare bones a wee bit. However, those of us that were out there across the two legs lost to the better team and the scoreline shows that.”

What did the Aston Villa skipper say about the team’s performance?

The Aston Villa captain spoke about the team’s performance on the night, "Tonight I think the game plan was perfect in the first half. We've got to be really proud of how we played. The goal was extremely disappointing. The tie was unfortunately lost in the first leg - we didn't control the game or manage it well enough, the performance was poor. For us going into more European competition next season we need to learn how to manage moments a lot better. Of course we wanted to do better this year and get to a European final but we will do everything we can to get ourselves back into this position and get to a final."

Despite finishing in the Conference League, Villa is guaranteed to qualify for the Champions League next season if Tottenham Hotspurs loses to Burnley on Saturday or Emery's side defeats Liverpool on Monday.