The Pain of Almost: Aston Villa’s Glorious Step Forward

They had you, didn't they? They had you thinking about greatness.

Line them up. Celtic, Juventus, Bologna, Brugge, Bern, RB Leipzig, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain.

If I had told you that Aston Villa would make it to at least the Champions League quarter-final after facing the teams above, you'd have that. Surely?

Now here you are, with that paid off. How does it feel?

Well. There's pain. No regrets. Nothing left on the table, but a real pain remains. Perhaps a good pain, but a pain nonetheless.

When John McGinn barged, the battering ram of a man he is, through the heart of the Parisian midfield to loop a jaw-dropping equaliser over Gianluigi Donnarumma in goal. When Ezri Konsa pounced to stroke home a tidy finish to send Villa into the lead, and within touching distance of making this a real, real problem for PSG. You were thinking about the 'what if' of it all? Weren't you? What if we score one more? What if we take it all the way?

Ever since we left Paris, you were thinking about it. About the mission lying before Aston Villa on a mild Tuesday night.

But even before that, right? Games and outcomes computed simultaneously in your mind as Morgan Rogers stuns the world to push Villa head in the first leg. Then again as Paris strikes back, over and over.

Even in the aftermath it remains. What if Konsa made contact? What if Marco Asensio called Donnarumma’s bluff correctly? What if Donnarumma wasn’t as good as he was? What if there was more than three pitiful minutes of added time?

Football’s always been the game of the big ‘what if’. The majority of conversations around the sport are asking some kind of question, or pondering some kind of alternative to what is currently unfolding before us. Imagine if X wasn’t injured? Or if that penalty was given? Or if that save had been made? Or if you’d put that bet on? Or how the lineup could be changed, or which player could be signed. What if this, what if that?

Now, about Villa. Put it all to bed. The big if, buts, woulds, coulds, whats and maybes. We have some kind of answer.

Over two legs, Villa pulled no punches and left it all on the pitch. With two legs, fair and square, they pushed what should be the best team in the world to the brink and chased them all the way.

Maybe it's not about achieving greatness right now. Maybe it's just about proving you can hang with the best in the world. That's fine. It's time to take stock of how far we have come on this journey, how much more there is to enjoy and reflect on it all.

On how proud you are. On how good this feels. On how one of the best teams in the world came to Villa Park and how we came so, so close to turning the table.

Despite that ache, the nagging question, the pain you feel. There’s some great good that has come of this.

A step too far this time, but next time it won't be.

It’s been too long, and what a step to take.

UTV.