Aston Villa thrash Forest to reach Europa League final

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.