Credit: Imago

James Barker

Mon 30 March 2026 14:40, UK

Aston Villa could do with Scotland resting John McGinn against Ivory Coast on Tuesday, as he’s scored in Villa’s last two games against their next opponents, Bologna.

The Tartan Army have their penultimate warm-up game ahead of this summer’s World Cup on Tuesday night, where they take on Ivory Coast.

It will be played at Hill Dickinson Stadium, and so with McGinn potentially in action, Aston Villa eyes will be on the match to see how things play out.

McGinn played just over an hour in Scotland’s friendly defeat to Japan on Saturday, and has this final national team commitment to attend to before returning to Villa Park.

Aston Villa will be praying nothing untoward befalls him at Hill Dickinson Stadium, as they know he will be vital to their Champions League qualification run-in.

Why Aston Villa need John McGinn fit for Bologna

Villa won’t want McGinn playing 90 minutes for Scotland against Ivory Coast, and even his 63 minutes against Japan wasn’t ideal.

Selfishly, Unai Emery probably won’t want the 31-year-old playing any minutes at all on Tuesday night, as his talismanic midfielder isn’t long back from injury and has already been making up for lost time.

Two goals in his last two games in all competitions for Villa has seen him reaffirm his importance to the team, as he’s now set to play a crucial part in the final weeks of the campaign.

Emery will particularly want him available for next Thursday’s Europa League quarter-final first leg against Bologna too, as the Scotsman has goalscoring history against the Italians.

Indeed, Villa have played Bologna twice in Europe recently, first in October 2024 in the Champions League, before meeting them again in the Europa League last September.

And, McGinn found the net in both of those two matches, with his strike in the latter of those two being a brilliant left-footed effort from just outside the box.

Some players just have a knack for performing and producing against certain teams, and it would appear that this is the case when McGinn comes up against Bologna.

What is Bologna’s away record in Europe like this season?

The Italian outfit will provide a stern test for Aston Villa over two legs as well, so having a fit and firing McGinn against them will be crucial.

Bologna have been superb on their travels in Europe this season too, and have won their last five-straight away games in the Europa League.

Roma, Brann, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Celta Vigo and FCSB (formerly known as Steaua Bucharest) have all been put to the sword by the Emilia-Romagna-based team.

However, it’s only Aston Villa who they haven’t beaten away from home in the competition this term, and that was thanks to the aforementioned McGinn goal last September.

Therefore, it’s crucial that Villa come away from the first leg in Italy still firmly in the tie, as they won’t want to be chasing the game in the second leg given Bologna’s away record on the continent.