Aston Villa demolished Nottingham Forest’s hopes to charge into the Europa League final and edge closer to ending a 30-year major trophy drought.
John McGinn’s late double added to Emi Buendia’s penalty and Ollie Watkins’ opener to complete Villa’s comeback against Nottingham Forest after last week’s 1-0 first-leg defeat.
The hosts booked a final against Bundesliga side Freiburg, who beat Braga 4-3 on aggregate, in Istanbul on 20 May.
Villa head coach Unai Emery is chasing his fifth Europa League title, having joined the club as a serial winner of this competition. His team will be looking to lift Villa’s first major silverware since the 1996 League Cup, and with it book a Champions League spot.
They are still fifth in the Premier League and if they finish there and win the Europa League, the team in sixth – currently Bournemouth – will also qualify for the Champions League.
This was a deserved victory for the hosts, in front of fan Prince William, with Forest rarely threatening without Morgan Gibbs-White.
The playmaker was only fit enough for the bench following a head injury which required extensive stitches in Monday’s win at Chelsea.
It took Villa until seven minutes before the break to level on aggregate when Watkins turned in Buendia’s centre from the left.
They went ahead overall 13 minutes after the break when referee Glenn Nyberg awarded a penalty after reviewing the monitor following a VAR check when Nikola Milenkovic tugged Pau Torres.
Watkins had a goal disallowed for offside, while Emi Martinez denied Chris Wood at the other end, before McGinn ‘s quickfire two goals wrapped up victory.
Aston Villa analysis: One game from greatness
If there were any doubts at Villa Park, they never showed.
Villa were on top from the start and with a frenzied crowd behind them victory seemed inevitable.
It took 36 minutes for the breakthrough to come, but Villa’s victory was expected. They delivered a performance which gave Forest nothing, and Villa perhaps could have even gone up one or two notches further.
Villa need to win a trophy under Emery and this is the last chance for the squad as it stands, with the expectation of changes in the summer.
They have the chance to do that against Freiburg in Istanbul and few would bet against them after a devastating performance.
It justified Emery’s changes for Sunday’s 2-1 defeat to Tottenham, a performance which drew so much criticism – but there are no Villa fans worried about that any more.
A Europa League winner three times with Sevilla and once with Villarreal, Emery holds a special grip on this competition.
He lost with Arsenal to Chelsea in 2019, but his Villa will be favourites in Istanbul in two weeks.
Villa won the European Cup in 1982 and have been without European success since – the class of 2026 may be about to write their names into the club’s history.
