{"id":531242,"date":"2026-03-12T10:57:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T10:57:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/531242\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T10:57:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T10:57:17","slug":"aston-villa-has-captain-mcginn-back-to-face-lille-in-europa-league-last-16-winnipeg-free-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/531242\/","title":{"rendered":"Aston Villa has captain McGinn back to face Lille in Europa League last 16 \u2013 Winnipeg Free Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

LILLE, France (AP) \u2014 Aston Villa travelled to Lille to kick off the Europa League round of 16 on Thursday boosted by the return from injury of captain John McGinn.<\/p>\n

McGinn was absent for seven weeks since a knee injury in a Premier League loss to Everton in January.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s massive to have him back,\u201d teammate Morgan Rogers said. \u201cHe puts a smile on people\u2019s faces, he plays with that smile, wears the badge on his sleeve and he brings a lot to our team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Chelsea's
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tChelsea’s Reece James, left, tackles Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers during their English Premier League soccer match between Aston Villa and Chelsea in Birmingham, England, Wednesday, March 4, 2026. (AP Photo\/Dave Shopland)<\/p>\n

Villa and Lille also met in the Conference League quarterfinals two years ago, when Unai Emery\u2019s men advanced on penalties.<\/p>\n

Another English side, Nottingham Forest, needs to put relegation worries aside when it hosts Danish club Midtjylland.<\/p>\n

In an all-Italia derby, Bologna hosts Roma.<\/p>\n

The Europa League format launched last season \u2014 36 teams in a single-standings league format then a tennis-style knockout bracket \u2014 lets teams from the same country meet at any point in the knockout phase. Previously, national derbies were possible only from the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n

\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\tThe Warm-Up<\/p>\n

Winnipeg Jets Game Days<\/p>\n

On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop.<\/p>\n

\t\t\tSign up for The Warm-Up<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Sign<\/p>\n

Celta Vigo hosts the first leg against Lyon, the league phase winner.<\/p>\n

Real Betis travels to Panathinaikos while Stuttgart meets Porto at home. Another Bundesliga club, Freiburg, is away to Genk.<\/p>\n

In the Conference League, Crystal Palace faces AEK Larnaca in London.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP soccer: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/soccer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LILLE, France (AP) \u2014 Aston Villa travelled to Lille to kick off the Europa League round of 16…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":531243,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-531242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=531242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/531243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=531242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=531242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=531242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}