Aston Villa manager Alex McLeish has revealed that Stiliyan Petrov is in high spirits after undergoing his first day of treatment for acute leukaemia.

Petrov was diagnosed with the disease last week, prompting an outpouring of emotion towards the Villa captain.

McLeish revealed that the response from the footballing world has helped Petrov come to terms with his situation, and that he is looking forward to tackling it head on.

"He's determined to meet it head on, we would expect that from Stan, and he was talking really positively and actually couldn't wait to get started, to try and clear up this illness that he has," McLeish told Sky Sports News.

"The support he has had from football friends here at Aston Villa, Celtic yesterday and the Chelsea players on Saturday afternoon, we are really delighted and proud of the response from the football family.

"Stan himself is in amazing spirits, absolutely fantastic spirits. God knows what the lad is probably thinking in his head, but he is the captain of Aston Villa and he has shown commitment on the pitch, he is a pure leader and he wants to lead himself through this particularly tough time."

Petrov joined Villa in 2006, making 218 appearances and scoring 12 goals in that time.