Since scoring in Villa’s 3-2 defeat against Wolves back in 2021, McGinn has celebrated his goals by turning his hands

and circling his eyes as if making a Zorro mask. He performed it again after netting the winning goal in midweek and

revealed his celebration is dedicated to his young nephew.

He said: “Four celebrations in one! A great ball from Cashy. We’d been speaking about getting it wide, getting

numbers in the box. The manager was going bananas after that Everton game. We never had enough numbers in the

box until late on.

“So it was in the back of my head, the header against England that I should have buried. Tonight I remembered my

neck and managed to glance it in the corner. A brilliant feeling. Been through a lot with this club.

“That Holte End still celebrates the goals. Doesn’t matter what division, what competition we are in. Same as Sheff

Utd at home, that one gets celebrated the same. But this one is a bit more special and thankfully it was me who

managed to put it in.

Asked about the story behind his celebration, McGinn explained: “My nephew Jack is nearly five but he needs

goggles to play for his football team as his eyesight is really poor, so I did the goggles for him.”

He added: “When I looked at the clock I thought if this was a Premier League game there’d be 12-13 minutes added

so I had to speed things up a bit but at the same time be patient, get it wide. Thankfully in the end we got there. Big goal.

“In European games this season we haven’t fully quite clicked. We’ll all agree it wasn’t an amazing performance from

us but the win’s the most important thing. If you’d told us before the game you’ll win 1-0, we would have taken it as

we had to get a foothold back in the group.

“With the other result, it makes it even more important. Overall it was probably a bit of a disappointing performance

but these games aren’t easy. Zrinjski were very hard to play against. They gave it their all and defended as if their

lives depended on it.”