Three former European Cup winners collide in Portugal this weekend – and Villa manager Martin O’Neill expects it to be the perfect preparation for the new campaign.

The glamorous Guadiana Cup, being played in the Algarve, kicks off tonight with 1970 champions Feyenoord up against 1961 and 1962 winners Benfica before Villa, kings of the continent in 1982, face the Dutch side tomorrow and the Portuguese giants on Sunday.

The double header will give O’Neill the chance to run the rule over his entire first-team squad with World Cup quartet James Milner, Stephen Warnock, Emile Heskey and Brad Guzan back on the scene following their extended breaks.

And, according to the Northern Irishman, the chance to mix it with two teams sharing in the same rich history as Villa will be an ideal workout ahead of the start of the new season.

“This is a little competition that when I heard about it I thought it would suit us down to the ground. It should work out well,” he said.

“It will be a couple of excellent workouts despite the fact the kick-offs are reasonably late in the evening time. You are still talking about pretty hot conditions and I think that will stand us in good stead.

“Feyenoord have been a top-class side for a long, long time especially during the era when you go back to the 1970s with Ajax ruling the roost in European football. Feyenoord were not too far behind them.

“Since then, of course, maybe with television money, Dutch football seems to have suffered a little bit. I say suffered in the sense that the quality players might have made a mass exodus.

“Saying that, Ajax are still a very strong side and I would expect much the same from Feyenoord.

“Portuguese football is getting stronger again now. They have had a major influx of Brazilian players who can obviously speak Portuguese – that being their native language – so from that viewpoint, it’s great.

“Portuguese football is on the rise again,  as it should be. The Benfica of old were one of the best teams in European football for a long time.”

Villa enjoyed a perfect pre-season a year ago when they swept aside the likes of Porto and Juventus along the way to lifting the Peace Cup.

But it was not a pre-cursor to the opening day of the season as they slumped to a 2-0 home defeat by Wigan.

And, while O’Neill is hoping for the same outcome overseas, he is seeking a very different result against West Ham a fortnight tomorrow.

He added: “It would be nice to win the competition. It would be great. The very fact there is a cup for it – of course it would be nice to get involved in it.

“I always think there is a feel-good factor about players training in the sun. We have enough poor days back at home to enjoy it now.

“I also think a bit of sun on your back does you no harm at all. It’s a long footballing season so I think the players, while they might not appreciate training in these conditions, will have appreciated their days here certainly when they are back home.

“Last time was a fantastic pre-season, one of the best. The prize money was excellent and we won the competition. It worked out brilliantly.

“I think the young players in the tournament are much better now. Young Andreas Weimann has improved considerably over the year, Marc Albrighton has been excellent and Ciaran Clark, Barry Bannan – all those young lads – have had that experience.

“But you know what happened, of course, we arrived back after one of the best pre-seasons we have had and we lost on the opening day of the season to Wigan – so you never know.

“You can’t really tell but what you want is players going in to the season as fit as possible.”

By Brendan McLoughlin