'Learning curve' - Skipper makes Aston Villa admission after Barcelona defeat

Skipper John McGinn believes Villa learned some valuable lessons in their 3-0 defeat to Barcelona

Unai Emery's men saw their perfect start to the Champions League campaign ended in the Nou Camp with Raphina netting a second half double, after Lamine Yamal had opened the scoring.

But the visitors were masters of their own downfall, with a dreadful Joao Gomes error gifting Yamal his goal.

Villa then missed several chances to equalise before Raphinha doubled the lead, via the aid of a big deflection, early in the second half.

The Brazilian then put the match out of Villa's reach with a classy second.

McGinn said: "Barcelona made the right decisions at the right times and scored really good goals.

"The manager spoke about being clinical at important moments in the game. When you come here 50-50s sometimes don't go your way. They also leave players up the pitch so if you lose the ball they can be away.

"I think we are competitive against teams at this level, we have shown that whether it is Bayern Munich or PSG.

"Tonight was a huge learning curve for us and I am sure it will stand us in good stead for the future."

Villa made the worst possible start when Gomes played a blind pass across his own box, which was pounced on by Yamal.

Discussing the error, Emery said: “Gomes started not very confident with the ball. The mistake is part of our style, I am not blaming him.

“Before the mistake, he lost two balls. Today is a very good experience for him. We have made mistakes like that in four years and we always overcame those mistakes.

Emery added: "The test was definitely not in the level we want to achieve but there are a lot of things to learn, a lot of experience for the players and us

“It is giving me a lot of information to analyse and compete at this level.

"Overall, we are competing fantastically in the Champions League, although playing the match we played we have work to do to get to this level (of Barcelona).

"We were sometimes achieving it and close to scoring goals but we must be ruthless in the attacking third, 3-0 is maybe more than we deserved but we accept the defeat."