Aston Villa Crush Sloppy Nottingham Forest to Reach Europa League Final

Aston Villa booked their place in the Europa League final with a dominating win over Nottingham Forest in the recent clash. John McGinn scored twice as Villa sealed a 4-1 win on aggregate, keeping their hopes alive of winning their first trophy in 30 years.

They will now face Freiburg in Istanbul on May 20, after the German side edged past Braga 4-3 on aggregate.

After losing the first leg 1-0, Unai Emery’s team started strongly at a lively Villa Park and got the breakthrough in the 36th minute. Ollie Watkins scored from close range after some fine skill from Emiliano Buendía.

Thirteen minutes into the second half, Buendía made it 2-0 for Villa by calmly scoring from the penalty spot after Nikola Milenković pulled Pau Torres’ shirt inside the box.

Captain John McGinn then scored two almost identical goals in the 77th and 80th minutes, sending the 43,000 fans at the stadium, including Villa supporter Prince William, into celebration.

Talking about the records, Villa were European champions in 1982 and last lifted a trophy in 1996 when they won the League Cup.

Now, Villa will be hoping their manager Unai Emery, who has already won the Europa League four times, can guide them to another title and do it for the first time with an English club.

Speaking after the match, Ollie Watkins said that Unai Emery deserves a lot of credit for Villa’s success, so the team should play well in the final to help him win another trophy.   

"There's no better manager than this to get us prepared for this game and obviously take us ​into the final as well. His track record speaks ​for itself. We're in a great position. We need to go there and win now." said Ollie Watkins.

Meanwhile, Buendia acknowledged the buzz of Villa Park, saying the support of home fans helped them to dominate the game.

"They were the 12th man. We've shown all season how well we can play, and we did it today, we deserved this. It was a great performance all round. The atmosphere in here was electric ... ​but we've still got one game ​to go to achieve what ⁠we want." said Emiliano Buendia.