Unai’s opinion of this competition has been made clear often enough although the team he picked was reasonably strong. Seven changes from the team who lost at the weekend still meant plenty of competition for places and starts for, amongst others, Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Matteo Ruggeri and Ibrahim Mbaye. There was also plenty of cover on the bench although notable absences were Joao Gomes, with a slight injury (it’s the Villa – you know what’s coming next) and Alejandro Garnacho, who I’m not entirely sure exists.

One player Unai clearly rates highly is George Hemmings and it didn’t take long for the young winger to split the Coventry defence with a ball Tammy Abraham ran onto and put calmly away to hopefully give him the boost he needs.

Maybe Villa got caught up in the general air of under-excitement after the goal because they seemed to step back and allowed the home side to get back into the game. A couple of shots weren’t far off target, before a well-struck free-kick gave them the equaliser.

There was a rough fifteen minutes or so before John McGinn missed the sort of opportunity he’s been putting away all over Europe for years. Ross Barkley had a shot pushed round the post and from the resulting corner his header gave Villa the lead that they were never in danger of losing again.

A half-time substitution saw Marco Bizot replaced by the commanding figure of Zion Suzuki. Bizot was said to have taken a knock, but the presence of the new best keeper in the world had a calming effect on the Villa defence, who were scarcely troubled again.

On the hour another corner was worked well to give Abraham a tap-in for his second. I don’t know if all the Villa players who missed the ball did so deliberately, but let’s say it was an inspired act of genius by our new set-piece coach.

Then came the moment, or rather moments, that emphasised the gulf between the two teams. 3-1 up and with the match won, Villa brought on Manzambi (£55 million), Nicolas Jackson (£65 million) and Emiliano Buendia (Man of the Match in a European final four months ago). It’s the sort of thing you’d look at and shake your head in despair when it happened to us.

Two of them did okay, Manzambi looked like he’s going to be an exceptional talent, as did one of the players they replaced, Ibrahim Mbaye (£50 million). Also impressive was Harwood-Bellis, whose composure on the ball and passing ability drew comparison with an embryonic Pau Torres.