Unfortunately, that is what he got as the Claret and Blue face CSKA in on 18/19 February at Villa Park with the return leg in Russia just a week later. Sandwiched in between those two tricky legs is an early afternoon clash with Chelsea on the Saturday.
Should Villa progress against CSKA, who won all four of their group games, then a tie against Tottenham will be next should the Londoners get past Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk.
Fans of the Claret and Blue would have been hoping to avoid a long trip and won't be happy to hear that Hamburg, winners of Group F, face a relatively straight-forward clash with Dutch side NEC Nijmegen.
The German side, who thrashed Villa's second string 3-1, will then face either Bordeaux or Galatasaray should they progress.
Of all the ties that Villa will not have wanted CSKA top the list, but the Russians will be in pre-season when O'Neill's men travel to Moscow.
Their domestic season, in which CSKA finished runners-up ended in November. The league was won by little known Rubin Kazan, who were spearheaded by a familiar figure to Villa fans - Savo Milosevic. In fact the Serbian striker scored the goal which clinched a famous title for the minnows.
CSKA did claim some success though as they were victorious in the Russian Cup.
Notable players for the rich Russian giants include Brazilian superstar Vagner Love and rampaging midfielder Yuri Zhirkov.
Satr man Zhirkov won the Russian Player of the Year award recently and has been attracting interest from a host of European clubs.
Vagner Love could leave CSKA in the transfer window with English sides Chelsea and Manchester City among his potential suitors.
Villa fans will obviously be looking for both players to choose pastures new in the January transfer window.
O'Neill will now have to plan a strategy to deal with a side, who scored an amazing 12 goals in their four group games.
Villa will need to keep it tight in the home leg to have any chance of progressing but with speed kings Gabriel Agbonlahor and Ashley Young in their ranks the Englishmen have no need to fear a trip to Moscow.
O'Neill will now be hoping that his charges can prove his theory that finishing thrid is not an issue.