Aston Villa 4 – 0 N Forest

Aston Villa thrashed Nottingham Forest 4-0 at Villa Park to reach the Europa League final with a 4-1 aggregate win.

Forest’s one-goal advantage from the first leg of this semi-final was erased by a first-half goal from Ollie Watkins and an Emiliano Buendia penalty early in the second half put Unai Emery’s side in control. John McGinn’s late double completed the rout as Forest collapsed.

Forest, for whom Morgan Gibbs-White was an unused substitute, came into the game riding a five-game winning streak and brimming with optimism against a Villa side that had lost three in a row. But Emery’s side travel to Istanbul where they face Freiburg.

How Villa turned around the semi-final tie

Attacking the Holt End from the start, the Villa fans created a great atmosphere as Forest tried hard to calm the crowd. Vitor Pereira’s side actually showed up in that stormy weather before Buendia’s superb skills opened them up.

The diminutive Argentine crossed two before slotting the ball into the path of Watkins from close range. The England striker’s head was bandaged after a clash of heads with Morato, but he was on the spot to level the tie, adding to the ruckus.

In the second half, Pereira introduced Ryan Yates in an attempt to give Forest more fight, but to no avail. Nikola Milenkovic’s shirt pull on Pau Torres inside the box required a VAR check but it was clear. The indomitable Buendia was duly converted.

Any hope of a Forest comeback was erased by McGinn. The Villa captain missed their poor defeat against Spurs last weekend, but the talisman returned to send Villa Park into a frenzy, twice being fed by Morgan Rodgers and twice tucking the ball into the corner.

For Emery, after recent – and rare – criticism, it was a victory. Victor Lindelof, a surprise pick in midfield, was immense. Watkins and Buendia are better. Villa are one win away from a first trophy in 30 years – and who would bet against Emery in this competition?

Emery gives the royal seal of approval McGinn: We don’t want to be ‘almost men’

Villa were given the Royal Assent by Prince William after reaching the Europa League final.

Emery revealed the Prince of Wales went to the dressing room after the win.

The Spaniard said of Prince William in his post-match press conference: “He was in the dressing room with the players and with me and of course he was very happy.”

The Prince of Wales showed his emotion during the game as he celebrated Buendia’s spot-kick, which put Villa 2-0 up, before McGinn’s brace sealed the win – and the Scot doesn’t want his side to be known as “almost men”.

told TNT Sports: “The margins are very slim – if we lose tonight, we’re almost men.

“When we go to Istanbul in 10 days, we have to make sure we’re not nearly men.

“Now it’s about embracing it and trying to be a legend. You look at the lads from 1982, you look at the cup winners in the 90s. It’s a historic club, and it hasn’t been successful for a long time.

“There’s been massive lows like relegation and it’s built itself up. It’s such a proud football club, it deserves success and hopefully we can be the group to do it.”

He added: “I’m usually pretty calm before games, but the pressure was intense today. This group of players deserves to go one step further to reach the final after some semi-final disappointments.

“You can pretend it doesn’t affect you, but today I was nervous.

“Tonight was one of the best performances I’ve seen from a Villa team in a long time.”

Watkins: We have to go out there and win now

Aston Villa forward Ollie Watkins has paid tribute to manager Unai Emery after guiding his side to the Europa League final.

“There’s no better manager to prepare us for this game and obviously take us to the final. His track record speaks for itself,” Watkins said. TNT Sports.

“We’re in a great position, but we’ve got to go out there and win now.”

Watkins praised the collective effort of the Villa side, who came up short in their last Premier League match.

This England forward said, after the performance against Tottenham, everyone’s mind was on this game.

“Everyone worked so hard. It’s hard to pick a man of the match – we’re all amazing.”

Villa’s historic win in statistics

• Aston Villa reached their first major European final since the 1982 European Cup final 44 years ago. The only English clubs with a longer gap between such finals are Manchester City (51 – 1970 to 2021) and West Ham (47 – 1976 to 2023).
• It was the largest margin of victory by an English team against another English club in any European competition. It was the biggest by any team in a UEFA Europa League semi-final game in 2020-21 when Manchester United beat Roma 6-2.
• Aston Villa boss Unai Emery reached his sixth major European final – all in the UEFA Europa League from 2014 to 2026. Only Giovanni Trapattoni has managed more major finals in European competition (7).
• Nottingham Forest have been eliminated in each of their last three major cup semi-finals – the 2022-23 League Cup v Manchester United, the 2024-25 FA Cup v Manchester City and this season’s UEFA Europa League v Aston Villa.
• There were 156 seconds between John McGinn’s first and second goals of the match – the first Aston Villa player to score a brace in a major European semi-final.
• Ollie Watkins and John McGinn have both scored 11 goals in Europe’s major competitions for Aston Villa – joint-most of any player.

Pereira laments the casualties that the forest costs

Nottingham Forest head coach Victor Perera When asked in the press conference, is there any chance? Morgan Gibbs-White Coming:

“No. If you look at our bench today, we brought in three players fit to play. (Lorenzo) Luca, (Dilane) Bakwa and (Ryan) Yates. And three injured players without condition to go in to help the team. Three academy boys and Murillo at risk of playing, not ready to play yet.

“But in the end I’m proud of my team, my players, our fans. But today we came here without the conditions to compete for the final, one less day for recovery which makes a big difference. We tried everything but we didn’t have the solution. They scored two more goals when we tried to take some risks.

“In the end, it was a difficult result but it was a long road to the semi-final. A sad day, very difficult, but we have to look to the future. In three days, we will face a strong team. I hope we don’t have more injuries because it is difficult to compete at this level. To compete with Aston Villa today, we need all our players to be fit.”

What’s coming for Forest and Villa?

Aston Villa already face relegated Burnley in their next Premier League game, visiting Turf Moor on Sunday 10 May at 2pm, LIVE Sky Sports+

Forest are also in the Premier League as they try to stay alive. They host Newcastle on May 10, live Sky Sports; Kick-off is also at 2pm.