Back to De Kuip: Feyenoord v Aston Villa preview and team news

Villa's first Europa League away game of the season takes them to the scene of their greatest triumph.

43 years ago, Peter Withe’s glorious shinner was the only goal of the European Cup final in Rotterdam and young goalkeeper Nigel Spink made himself a hero after coming off the bench against Bayern Munich.

Aston Villa return to De Kuip on Thursday, this time to face Feyenoord themselves in the league phase of the Europa League.

Manager Unai Emery has set out the aim: finish in the top eight to qualify automatically for the knock-out phase with all the perks and privileges afforded to the best teams.

Starting the league phase with a win against Bologna was important for Villa’s overall mood but it was crucial in the Europa League in its own right.

John McGinn scored the goal that finally got the team’s campaign moving and Villa have quickly improved since that superb strike 12 minutes into last Thursday’s match, following up with a 3-1 win over Fulham in the Premier League and looking good value for it too.

Now, they face not only their biggest test of the season so far but one of the toughest fixtures of their league phase schedule.