Gareth Barry can understand Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill's decision to field a weakened team against UEFA Cup opponents CSKA Moscow.

Barry, Gabriel Agbonlahor, Ashley Young, Brad Friedel, James Milner, Carlos Cuellar, Stiliyan Petrov, Emile Heskey and Nigel Reo-Coker have all been left at home.

Throw in the injured Martin Laursen and Wilfrid Bouma, and those players would constitute the make up of any Villa starting XI.

Barry, speaking prior to O'Neill making his decision, said: "It's always a difficult one, especially for the manager.

"If you're looking at the game with Stoke on Sunday as the priority then it might be vital a few players do get a rest.

"Last Wednesday's game (with CSKA) maybe caught up with us because we had a tough game against Chelsea (Saturday's 1-0 defeat)."

Winger James Milner still believes Villa can make it through to the last 16, despite the inexperience of a squad that today flew out to Moscow.

"It's obviously the manager's decision," stated Milner.

"Whatever team we put out, it will be good enough to get a result because we've a squad of quality players, even if it might not be the biggest.

"We know they (CSKA) are a good team, but we've a lot of good players as well, not just the 11 that played against Chelsea."