John McGinn couldn't believe he was looking across the tunnel to see Martin O'Neill - but he put his Celtic admiration aside to help continue a record-breaking streak.
The Aston Villa battler and Scotland star has been reflecting on his first season in Birmingham way back in term 2018/19, when he joined the then-Championship side from Hibs. He was close to a move to boyhood heroes Celtic before turning claret and it was O'Neill's Celtic side with greats like Henrik Larsson involved that McGinn has fond memories of.
So when Villa faced off against the Irishman's Nottingham Forest, he was stunned. But he scored twice in the 3-1 win as a 10-game run which sparked promotion the Premier League continued, and told The Athletic of that day: "I was starstruck before the game because Martin O’Neill was the manager of Forest. I was right up for it. Scoring the two goals and winning the game was one of the highlights of the season for me.”
