Aston Villa's new 'mentality monster' singled out for praise after Champions League statement
Aston Villa took a big step towards the Champions League quarter-finals with a 3-1 win away to Club Brugge, with Marco Asensio scoring the clincher from the penalty spot
by Neil Moxley · The MirrorMatty Cash heaped praise on ‘mentality monster’ Marco Asensio after Aston Villa took a giant step towards the Champions League quarter-finals.
The Poland international saluted the on-loan playmaker from Real Madrid for stepping up to take the last-minute penalty that gave Unai Emery’s men a 3-1 advantage heading into next week’s second leg.
Villa have a chequered recent history from 12 yards. Ollie Watkins skied one against Celtic and Youri Tielemans has also missed. The Belgian international handed the ball to the Spanish international and Watkins stepped aside after Christos Tzolis upended Cash.
The right-back said: “His experience is obviously key. Him stepping over the penalty, I kind of knew where it was going.
“He shows leadership and that quality day in and day out. He's obviously played for the biggest club in the world and other clubs as well. He’s got a lot of quality and his mindset and his mentality is amazing.”
Cash was one of a few players returning to Emery’s squad following a niggling muscle injury. Pau Torres and Boubacar Kamara also re-joined and Villa’s boss now has options from the bench following a run of six games in 18 days.
Cash said: “I think we've got basically a pretty much full squad other than obviously Amadou Onana and Ross Barkley. We have got a really good team, a good squad, we’ve got a great morale and we’ve obviously got players in each position that can make a difference.
“In different games, you need different players. Tonight, we made four changes, which is obviously nice for the manager.”
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Villa’s campaign is building up a head of steam. It is looking more likely than not that the Premier League ’s top five will qualify for next season’s Champions League. Although they are in the tenth spot, the Birmingham club sit four points behind Chelsea in fifth, and there is only a six-point gap to third-placed Nottingham Forest.
Villa’s defender added: “I think we can all say we haven't really been fully at our best this season, as a group, really. But you look at it, we’re in the FA Cup quarter-finals, and then obviously we have got another massive game next week, and then one of the main things is we want to get consistent in the league and get back into the top five.
“But it's obviously nice to be in the top competitions, and if you're still in still in them in March, it is obviously a good sign, so fingers crossed we can keep going. As players - and as a group - we want to do the best we can. We want to dream about playing in the big games and competing.
“But it is a cliche - you have got to take every game as it comes because when you get into the later stages the quality of the teams you're up against is a high quality, so you can only do as best as you can. We want to dream, we want to try and compete in every competition we can and hopefully we can."
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