Midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker knows Villa must “earn the right” to be granted their UEFA Cup dream.
Martin O’Neill’s side travel to Denmark to face Odense BK in Saturday’s Intertoto Cup third-round first leg before the return tie at Villa Park a week later.
They begin as red hot favourites to progress to the UEFA Cup second qualifying round.
Reo-Coker, who exited the competition at the first-round stage with West Ham two years ago, insists they cannot afford to take their opponents for granted.
He said: “The chance to play in Europe is fantastic. It’s what every youngster dreams of. You want to play at the highest level and play in as many competitions as possible.
“You’ve got the UEFA Cup and the only thing ahead of that is the Champions League, so it would be fantastic but we’ve got to make sure we earn the right to be there.
“We can’t really count our chickens yet. We’ve got to get through the qualifying round and make sure we focus on that first, before we start looking forward to Europe.
“Something you quickly learn in football is that you can’t underestimate anyone, regardless of what level they’re at. You can’t underestimate anyone.
“We’re just building up our fitness now and we’re looking forward to the Intertoto game.
“We’re not taking anything for granted and we know we have to earn the right to get ourselves into the UEFA Cup.
“We’re very excited looking ahead to the new season. Look at the players we’ve got, we’ve got the same nucleus with one or two exceptions.”
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