Patrick McPartlin and Martyn Simpson round of this week's European football by focusing on the most interesting match to come - Hibs versus Aston Villa.
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - European football, that's gonna be the center
00:06 of attention now for the rest of the week.
00:07 We've got Rangers, Aberdeen, Hearts and Hibs all in action.
00:12 Aberdeen, they head to Sweden for the first leg
00:15 of their tie against BK Haken.
00:18 They know that they're guaranteed group stage football
00:20 regardless, but there is a chance there.
00:23 I mean, no mugs Haken, obviously the Swedish champions.
00:26 So it will be a tough tie,
00:27 but I think they'll see a realistic chance
00:30 of getting to the Europa groups.
00:31 Hearts have a very winnable tie against PAOK.
00:35 Rangers, PSV Eindhoven is gonna be hugely interesting,
00:38 but the tie that I'm really excited for
00:40 is Hibs against Aston Villa.
00:42 I think whenever a battle of Britain comes around
00:46 as it's traditionally called in Europe,
00:47 there's always that little bit of sit up and pay attention.
00:51 I think up in Scotland,
00:52 we love getting the chance to go head to head
00:55 with an English team in competitive action,
00:57 just to dispel the myth that sort of kickstarted
01:01 this very show in the first place,
01:03 that English people look down at Scottish football.
01:07 So I mean, Patrick,
01:09 how are you feeling ahead of the tie, first of all?
01:11 I mean, Aston Villa are obviously a team
01:13 full of world-class stars, multi-million pound sign-ins,
01:18 you know, guys upwards of 50 million pounds.
01:22 Hibs are not that with the greatest respect in the world,
01:26 but do you think there's any chance they can trouble?
01:29 How crucial, I think we'll have to say the first leg
01:32 at Easter Road is just gonna be hugely crucial, isn't it?
01:34 - Yeah, I think so.
01:37 I think that's, I think when you look at the tie as a whole,
01:41 you think that's, you know, Hibs have a chance
01:42 of possibly getting something from the first leg.
01:47 I think that, I mean, aside from the fact
01:50 that Lee Johnson has, I think he would,
01:52 he'd probably say himself a pretty decent record
01:54 against English Premier League teams and managers.
01:57 I think he will absolutely relish the chance
01:59 to go toe-to-toe with UNI Emery.
02:02 I think that you've also got the element,
02:08 one element coming into it is that Hibs often raise
02:10 their game for big games like this.
02:12 I mean, I've lost count of the number of times
02:15 in recent years where Hibs have maybe beaten Hearts
02:19 or they've beaten Celtic or Rangers,
02:21 they've had a good result in Europe
02:23 and then they followed it up with a really kind of meek,
02:27 disappointing, but also somehow entirely predictable
02:31 like result in the league.
02:34 So I think that, I think Hibs have a lot going for them
02:38 in this case.
02:39 I think the fact that it's gonna be,
02:41 well, you'd imagine it would be a sellout,
02:43 it will be a packed Easter Road,
02:45 it will be under the lights.
02:48 It's a big game, it's an unknown stadium
02:51 for most of the Villa team, one or two exceptions aside.
02:56 And I think, yeah, if they can sort of catch Villa
02:59 unawares, they can get a fast start, which they should,
03:04 you know, given the atmosphere and the fans backing,
03:05 then you just never know.
03:08 And as you rightly say, that's their best,
03:11 I think their best chance of hoping to get anything
03:13 from the tie is just having a good performance
03:16 and ideally for Hibs, a positive result from the first leg
03:20 to at the very least keep the tie alive
03:22 going into the return game at Villa Park
03:25 or, you know, even something to hold onto.
03:28 I just think the sort of overriding thing here
03:32 is that Hibs are just so unpredictable,
03:34 especially this season.
03:36 And yeah, it sort of feels like anything could happen,
03:40 but it will be intriguing to see how it pans out,
03:45 certainly in the first leg.
03:47 (upbeat music)
03:49 (upbeat music)
03:52 (upbeat music)