Tyrone Mings plays down pressure of Aston Villa’s Champions League clash with Celtic

Tyrone Mings says Aston Villa will not be under any additional pressure when they play Celtic in their final Champions League league phase game next week.

Villa will almost certainly have to win the ‘Battle of Britain’ at Villa Park next week to have any chance of qualifying automatically for the last 16.

They could have done most of the work to avoid a play-off round by beating Monaco on Tuesday but they slipped to a 1-0 defeat to the Ligue 1 side.

Mings accepts it is a big game against Brendan Rodgers’ side next Wednesday but says they have pressure whenever they cross the white line.

“It isn’t pressure, it’s something we deal with every time we step out on to the football pitch, that’s no different. We enjoy it,” Mings said on the club website.

“It’s obviously a very big game next week, but they all are in their own way.

“We’ll look forward to it but we’ve got a big game at the weekend (against West Ham) and that’s our main focus.”

Villa conceded in the eighth minute to Wilfried Singo’s header and were unable to find a way back into the game.

Mings added: “Football’s a very simple game and we weren’t good enough.

“It definitely wasn’t a lack of effort, we have no excuses. I gave a poor ball away leading to the corner, didn’t defend the corner very well.

“We couldn’t get back in the game, couldn’t take the chances we had.

“And that’s the fine margins of football, especially when you come away to a European team like this, who are so desperate to win, as we were.

“I think it’s very simple the way the game went, we just weren’t good enough.”