Matty Cash has hailed Marco Asensio's leadership and top quality after hitting the ground running at Aston Villa.

The Spaniard came off the bench to seal Villa’s 3-1 win at Club Brugge on Tuesday night, which was the club’s Champions League round of 16 first leg against the Belgian champions.

Converting from the spot after Cash was fouled in the box late on, Asensio has now scored five goals in four matches having scored braces in successive home matches against Chelsea and Cardiff City.

“His experience is obviously key,” Cash said of the playmaker. “Him stepping up for the penalty, I kind of knew where it was going. He shows that leadership and that quality day in and day out.

“He's obviously played for the biggest club in the world and other clubs as well. He’s got a lot of quality and his mindset and his mentality is amazing.”

Villa lost 1-0 at Brugge in the league phase back in November after Tyrone Mings picked the ball up inside his own box, unaware that Emi Martinez had taken a goal kick before Hans Vanaken dispatched the spot-kick.

But Mings redeemed his error, assisting Leon Bailey’s opener in the third minute, before making a crucial intervention to deny Vanaken with the game level at 1-1 in the second half.

“I think he was just happy to not handball it tonight! Obviously at the time, it was pretty serious, but yesterday we made a little joke in the group chat about the handball he did and tonight I think he was brilliant so it shows his character and mentality,” Cash added.

“I was sitting on the sofa watching it at home last time and I think you'd let him off because he had a little bit of time out. At the time it was whatever happened, but now we can sort of have a laugh about it and it won't happen again.

“I think we set our goals and, obviously, we didn't have a great result here a few months ago. Tonight was about putting on a performance and getting a result.

“It’s only half-time, but obviously we’ve got an advantage and then go back to Villa Park and hopefully continue playing the way we have been.

“We played to win tonight. I think we made it clear in the changing room, the manager made it clear and every game we go into we want to win. You have to respect that you are coming to a tough place and we know it's a tough place because we've been here before.

“They're obviously playing really confidently at the minute, they're doing well in the league and then the Champions League. It's a massive win, but it's only half-time.

“I think we can all say we haven't really been fully at our best this season, as a group, really. But you look at it, we’re in the FA Cup quarter-finals and then obviously we have got another massive game next week and then one of the main things is we want to get consistent in the league and get back into the top five.

“But it's obviously nice to be in the top competitions and if you're still in them in March it is obviously a good sign, so fingers crossed we can keep going.

“As players and as a group, you obviously want to do the best you can and you want to dream about playing in the big games and competing.

“But it is a cliche, you have got to take every game as it comes because when you get into the later stages the quality of the teams you're up against is of a high quality, so you can only do as best as you can. We want a dream, we want to try and compete in every competition we can and hopefully we can.”

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Cash returned from injury to feature in the second half of the win, while Mings came back into the side from the off. Pau Torres, meanwhile, was named in the squad for the first time since suffering a broken metatarsal just over two months ago.

“It’s obviously nice, I think tonight we've got basically a pretty much full squad other than obviously Onana and Barkley,” he said.

“We have got a really good team, a good squad, we’ve got a great morale and we’ve obviously got players in each position that can make a difference.

“In different games you need different players. Tonight we had four changes, which is obviously nice for the manager.

“I went on a little run and played quite a lot of games in a row which I was happy about. I've had a few little breakdowns and little niggles, but I'm doing everything off the pitch to stay fit.

“Sometimes in football, you have a lot of games and when you have a little niggles, it sometimes just kills you a little bit because it takes a little bit of time. But tonight I just wanted to get back as quickly as I could.

“I probably came back a little bit too quickly last week. I missed a few games, but yeah, I'm delighted to be back on a night like tonight.”

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