Nottingham Forest will look with jealousy on Wednesday while Aston Villa is standing in line against Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday and next season dream of similar Champions League duels.
But Villa is just as jealous of the position of Forest in the Premier League, with the third placed side of Nuno Espirito Santo who makes its way to a top five finish that will probably secure a place in the Premier Club competition of Europe. Even after Villa Forest defeated 2-1 on Saturday, there is still a gap of six points between the clubs.
But if these seasons are typical instead of exceptional for these clubs, decisions that are taken off the field are just as important as those made on it.
Villa Park buzzed on Saturday, because it has been the entire season. The city land is no different. The team bus is welcomed on arrival, fans reveal spectacular Tifos and today's results evoke memories of the period between 1979 and 1982, when these clubs together to win three of the four European cups.
In modern football, winning matches is only part of the comparison. To stay at the front of the peloton, Villa and Forest have to answer some difficult questions about their stadiums.
Under former CEO Christian Personlow, Villa had plans to increase the capacity of their land above 50,000 and improve the area around Villa Park to generate income outside match days.
That project would have meant with a reduced capacity of 36,000 for two seasons to continue the construction work – so that Boss Unai Emery did not encourage. The Spaniard and his entourage believed that the move risked the diluting home advantage.
So the plan is now a smaller version of the idea of Purterlow: to expand the stadium piece piece, while the fan zones and the club shop are improved and offers more hospitality options. That should stimulate the financial firepower of Villa, but not enough.
The club knows that their best tool for generating income is to be the sale of players, who leaves little margin for errors on the transfer market. Ultimately, selling an important man gets up every year. Villa could probably be almost £ 100 million if they allowed Morgan Rogers this summer, but still find an affordable player who has the same impact is extremely difficult.
Forest knows this too. They could find a buyer for Morgan Gibbs-White tomorrow, but not a suitable replacement.
That is why owner Evangelos Marinakis is looking for Brazil, where he is considering investing in a club with a lower division and establishing an academy. Forest believes that this will give them a lead in one of the world's most lucrative and competitive markets.
That is only a part of the story. Although it is probably the best atmosphere in the competition, the city area is only about 30,000 – not enough to support Marinakis's ambitions.
“What we have to do is have a larger stadium,” said Marinakis last September. 'We have many supporters and a huge waiting list for season cards and I am sure that a stadium of 50,000 seats will fully look at our team and our passion.
'That is where the team belongs and where the tradition is. It is the most important thing for the city of Nottingham and this is something that I want to be able to complete and for the years to get one of the best stadiums in England. '
Although Forest hopes to start in the summer of 2026, there are still obstacles to erase, and Bos retains the option to build a whole new house elsewhere – as unpopular as that would initially be with their supporters.
As Tottenham has found since they left White Hart Lane in 2017, a club can build the best stadium in the world, but it takes years to make the feeling of their old house.
Try as they could, clubs such as Villa and Forest feel that the dice are loaded against them. They have billionary owners, but lack the income-generating power of Manchester United or Liverpool, which means that they are limited by Premier League expenditure rules.
It will take many years to build the commercial attraction of those clubs worldwide, even if Villa wins the Champions League this year and the FA Cup Fost.
In the meantime, these Midlands Giants will concentrate on trying to break the glass ceiling. Villa decided to go all-in on one of the world's best coaches-emery is paid to the north of £ 10 million a year and to give him everything he wants. It remains a risk, but so far it is throwing itself off, with Villa still hunting for three fronts.
Forest committed everything to stay up in their first season after promotion and has since improvised brilliantly. Hiring Nuno was a smart move and the cheap signing sessions from Murillo, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Nikola Milenkovic and Anthony Elanga have been inspired.
Although they try to upgrade in every area, the only option of these clubs is to keep the good work during the training and match days. Reconstruction is so much easier when they are undertaken from a position of strength.
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