Tyrone Mings remained level-headed after Aston Villa recorded a 3-1 first leg triumph over Club Brugge in the Champions League round of 16.
The defender returned to Villa’s starting 11 with a vital contribution at both ends at Jan Breydelstadion, setting up Leon Bailey’s early opener before deflecting Hans Vanaken’s goalbound header wide in the second period, with the score tied at 1-1.
Mings refused to get carried away, and despite being proud of the performance, insists there are areas they will still look to improve upon in next Wednesday’s second leg at Villa Park.
He said: “We’re halfway in the tie. I don’t really get high or too low after the experiences I’ve had in my career.
“We know we’ve got such a long way to go in this tie. They’re a team full of quality. We’re in the knockout stages of the Champions League, so we know how quickly it can change.
“We know how well we had to defend tonight. The game pretty much went as we expected.
“Obviously, we started well, conceded again – which is extremely frustrating – but the character that we showed, the togetherness, the belief, the contribution from the bench, everything came together and made it a very good evening that we can be proud of.
“They had some really good chances which is what we’ll be quite disappointed about. This is a game of fine margins and it’s important to come out on the right side of the big decisions and the big moments.
“We obviously defended well. We’ve always got the attacking quality that can cause teams problems.
“The game kind of went as we expected. A lot happened at the start, a lot happened at the end, and what happened in between was a very good team performance.”
After defeat in Bruges on matchday four of the league phase, Mings was pleased to be able to send Villa’s travelling supporters home with a positive result.
The 31-year-old immediately turned attention to Saturday’s trip to Brentford, and knows they still have work to do next week in order to successfully navigate the tie.
“We’ve got a huge game at the weekend, and I think moments like this are for the fans to enjoy,” he added.
“The fans have travelled over here twice now. At least they get to go home with a smile on their face this time.
“But for us, it’s business as usual, as soon as we leave this dressing room.
“We’ve got a big game at the weekend, we’ve got to finish the tie next week and just take it day by day.
“We’re such a humble group in there and the manager reinforces that every day. I don’t think there’ll be any possibility of us getting carried away. The fans will enjoy this one much more than we will.”
