The final countdown for Villa

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Another week passes, and the countdown is now on. Ten games, at most, for Villa to meet their targets for this season, fulfil the dreams of their fans as well as their players and light the path to the club's medium-term ambitions of becoming re-established as a footballing power in England and Europe.

You can gauge exactly how much of a footballing romantic you are by pointing to which of the above you thought of first, but they will all be true if Villa return from Istanbul next month with the Europa League trophy.

For all their achievements in the Premier League this season - and a top-five finish while sustaining a European run to the end would be an achievement without precedent in the club's history - the Europa League has always been the most efficient route to their goals this season. For the first time in living memory, Villa started a major competition as the clear favourite. Their 3-1 win in Bologna last week ensured that they remain on course to justify that billing.

You do not need the natural caution of a football manager to think that this quarter-final is not over yet. Villa were fortunate not to be two goals behind by half-time in Italy, but retained their grace under fire and exploited an advantage they had identified at set-pieces.

Bologna's domestic league position obliges them to throw everything they have at Villa tonight, their other hopes of returning to Europe next season all but lost. Villa should still be able to withstand it.

Villa Park has not been filled for Europa League games this season, a sore point with some Villa supporters. It would be a mistake to misinterpret this as a lack of enthusiasm for European football. At some of the clubs in the group Villa aspire to join, European games are an assumed feature of the calendar.

For Villa, European campaigns have been infrequent enough to be a cherished bonus, at a club where the folk-memory of 1982 is for ever passed on now to two generations of Villa fans who could never have been there.