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Topics: Aston Villa, Premier League, Europa Conference League
Jack Kenmare
Topics: Aston Villa, Premier League, Europa Conference League
Aston Villa midfielder John McGinn will continue to perform his trademark 'goggles' celebration as a way of inspiring others.
The 29-year-old Scotland international is in a rich vein of form at present.
After notching an assist in last month's 4-1 win over West Ham, he scored for Unai Emery's side on October 26 in their Europa Conference League clash against AZ Alkmaar.
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And three days later, McGinn gave his side the lead against Premier League newboys Luton, when he produced a tidy right-footed finish after a well-worked free-kick from Douglas Luiz.
On both occasions, the in-form midfielder celebrated scoring by cupping his hands around his eyes to mimic wearing goggles. So what does it mean?
It turns out McGinn's celebration is a message of support to one of his family members.
"My nephew, Jack, has got poor eyesight and he has to wear goggles to play football," he explained in Thursday's pre-match press conference. "So I decided it would maybe give him a bit of support to put the goggles on when I score.
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"Now he's happy. His team-mates up in Scotland carry on the celebration and he can wear his goggles. Hopefully that inspires a lot of children."
McGinn added: "A lot of people I played with when I was younger had to wear goggles, and when you're younger it's difficult because you feel socially kind of out of it.
"But the celebration is just a wee thing, a nod to Jack and now it's just kind of stuck. If I'm scoring, I can get the goggles out and keep doing it."
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In the press conference, McGinn also backed Villa to try and "break the spell" and win a piece of silverware this season.
"We have three opportunities [Premier League, FA Cup and Conference League] to break that spell of Aston Villa teams not having any silverware," he said.
"It's one we're aspiring to be part of, hopefully at the end of the season we can be proud of something we've done and write our names in the history books.
"Each player has their own ambitions and dreams. There's still a lot of work to do but the ambition and goal is to lift a trophy at the end of the season."
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Villa would go on to secure all three points in their Group E clash against AZ Alkmaar as goals from Diego Carlos and Ollie Watkins sealed a hard-fought 2-1 win.