Aston Villa midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker is excited about the UEFA Cup group stage.

"It's the real thing now, bring it on,'' said Reo-Coker. "The manager has already told us what it's like to be in Europe from when he was at Celtic and how great the experience is.

"He has already embedded that in our brains. We are a young squad and we took that on board. The group stage is where we wanted to get.

''All our work last season has paid off. This was the goal and now we have reached it. Now we have to get out of the group stages and look to push on.

"Yes, we'll have to play some big teams, you can see the likes of AC Milan in there. We are looking forward to it, it will be a fantastic experience. I wouldn't want such an easy group because what's the point?

"If you want to play easy teams then why do you participate? You want the good teams. You want to earn the right to get through and earn the right to play them."