Aston Villa's bumper cash boost revealed after perfect Champions League start

Aston Villa made the perfect return to the top table of European football by winning each of their first three Champions League games.

They continued their 100 per cent record in the competition by beating Bologna 2-0 at Villa Park last night, which followed victories against BSC Young Boys and Bayern Munich. Unai Emery's side are currently top of the Champions League league phase table ahead of the second batch of matchweek three fixtures this evening.

The spoils for the success include more than just the three points in the new 36-team league format. Each win has bagged Villa €2.1m (£1.8m), so after winning their first three matches, they've already banked €6.3m (£5.4m) ahead of their next five games.

READ | Tyrone Mings breaks silence on Aston Villa return with heartfelt post

READ | Why Aston Villa celebrated McGinn's goal 10 times, Mings' beaming smile and top eight points target

The new format makes its debut in the Champions League this season, and for Villa, a club that has had to be cute with its player trading this summer in order to ensure they were able to improve the squad as well as remaining compliant with the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR) following heavy losses, a Champions League journey could be a panacea for some of their financial headaches.

There is more money on offer than ever before for those competing in this year’s revamped Champions League, with two additional games meaning more walk-up gate money, almost certainly sell-outs, and more chances to take a slice of the massive €3.317bn (£2.85bn) prize pot that is on offer.

Villa have games still to look forward to against Club Brugge and Juventus next month, RB Leipzig in December and AS Monaco, and Celtic in January.

Do you think Villa will finish in the top eight? Tell us here

Join our new Aston Villa WhatsApp community

BirminghamLive has launched its very own WhatsApp community to give you the opportunity to receive the latest Aston Villa news straight to your messages.

We will be sending the latest breaking news and top Villa stories directly to the WhatsApp community and we want you to be part of it. Users who want to join our community must have WhatsApp downloaded on their phone.

All you have to do to join is click on this link, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you joined the previous WhatsApp Community, make to sure to sign-up to our new one as they previous page experienced a technical error.

If for some reason you decide you no longer want to be in our community, you can leave by clicking on the name at the top of your screen and clicking 'Exit Group'.

You can read our Privacy Notice here.