Aston Villa defeated Nottingham Forest 4-0 at Villa Park, winning 4-1 on aggregate and reaching the Europa League final.
Forest’s one-goal advantage in the first leg of this semi-final was erased by a first-half goal from Ollie Watkins, and Emiliano Buendia’s penalty early in the second half gave Unai Emery’s side the lead. John McGinn’s late double completed the rout as Forest wilted.
Forest, with Morgan Gibbs-White coming on as an unused substitute, went into the game feeling optimistic after winning their fifth straight game against Villa, who had lost three in a row. However, Emery’s side will head to Istanbul where they will face Freiburg.
How Villa overturned a draw in the semi-finals
The Villa fans created a great atmosphere as they attacked the Holte End from the start and Forest tried hard to calm the crowd down. Indeed, Vitor Pereira’s side appeared to have weathered the storm before Buendia’s impressive skills opened the game.
The diminutive Argentine darted past two points and slotted the ball into the path of Watkins from close range. The English striker, who had a bandage on his head after a clash of heads with Morato, stood on the spot to equalize and the noise got even louder.
In the second half, Pereira brought on Ryan Yates in an attempt to make Forest more aggressive, but to no avail. It took a VAR check to spot Nikola Milenkovic tugging on Pau Torres’ shirt in the box, but the issue was cleared. The irrepressible Buendia officially reformed.
Forest’s hopes of a comeback were dashed by McGinn. The Villa captain missed last weekend’s disastrous defeat to Spurs, but the talisman was back, receiving two Morgan Rodgers feeds and twice pushing the ball low into the corners, sending Villa Park into chaos.
For Emery, it was a victory after recent and rare criticism. Victor Lindelof, a surprise pick in midfield, was great. Watkins and Buendia are even better. Villa are one win away from winning their first trophy in 30 years, but who would bet against Emery in this competition?
Emery reveals royal seal of approval | McGuinn: We don’t want to be ‘almost male’
Villa were given a royal seal of approval by Prince William after reaching the Europa League final.
Emery revealed that the Prince of Wales visited his dressing room after the win.
“He was in the locker room with the players and me and of course he was very happy,” the Spaniard said of Prince William in the post-match press conference.
The Prince of Wales was emotional during the match, praising Buendia’s spot-kick. This kick put Villa up 2-0 before two goals from McGinn secured victory. And the Scotsman doesn’t want his team to be known as ‘almost all men’.
Prince William celebrates Villa’s win over Forest
“It’s close. If we lose tonight, it’s almost a man,” he told TNT Sports.
“When we go to Istanbul in 10 days, we have to make sure we are not mostly men.
“Now we’re accepting that and trying to become legends. You look at the players from 1982, you look at the cup winners in the 90s. It’s a club with a lot of history, but it hasn’t been successful for a long time.
“We had some big setbacks, including relegation, but we overcame them. We are a very proud football club and deserve success. Hopefully, we can be the group that achieves that.”
He added: “We are usually very calm before games, but today the pressure was intense. This group of players deserved to take another step forward to reach the final after several disappointments in the semi-finals.”
“You might be kidding that it doesn’t affect you, but I was nervous today.
“Tonight they put in one of the best performances I’ve seen from a Villa team in a long time.”
Watkins: We need to go out there and win now.
Aston Villa forward Olly Watkins has paid tribute to manager Unai Emery after leading his side to the Europa League final.
“There’s no better coach to get us ready for this game and obviously get us to the finals. His track record speaks for itself,” Watkins said on TNT Sports.
“We’re in a great position, but we need to go out there now and win.”
Watkins praised the concerted effort of his Villa side, who narrowly fell short in their last Premier League match.
“After the performance against Tottenham, everyone was focused on this game,” said the England forward.
“Everyone worked really hard. It’s difficult to pick a man of the match, but we were all great.”
John McGinn and Morgan Rodgers celebrate Aston Villa’s 4-0 win over Nottingham Forest
Villa’s historic victory
Aston Villa have reached their first major European final since the 1982 European Cup final 44 years ago. The only English clubs with a greater difference between such finals are Manchester City (51 – 1970-2021) and West Ham (47 – 1976-2023). This was the largest margin ever won by an English team over another English club in a European competition. It was also the biggest UEFA Europa League semi-final match since Manchester United 6-2 Roma in 2020-21. Aston Villa manager Unai Emery reached his sixth major European final in the UEFA Europa League from 2014 to 2026. Only Giovanni Trapattoni has reached more major finals in European competitions (seven). Nottingham Forest have lost in each of the past three major cups. Semi-finals – 2022-23 League Cup vs Manchester United, 2024-25 FA Cup vs Manchester City and this season’s UEFA Europa League vs Aston Villa. There were 156 seconds between John McGinn’s first and second goals in this match. This made him the first Aston Villa player to score two goals in a major European semi-final. Ollie Watkins and John McGinn have both scored 11 goals in majors for Aston Villa, the most of any player in European competitions.
Pereira laments Forest injury
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Vitor Pereira was frustrated by the lack of team options due to injury
Nottingham Forest head coach Vitor Pereira was asked in a press conference if there was a chance Morgan Gibbs-White would feature, and he said:
“No. If you look at our bench today, we brought in three players who were ready to play: (Lorenzo) Lucca, (Dylan) Bakwa and (Ryan) Yates. And we had three players who were injured and couldn’t come in to help the team. Three boys from the academy and Murillo are at risk to play, but they’re not ready to play yet.”
“But at the end of the day, I’m proud of my team, the players and the supporters. But today we came here without the conditions to play in the final and one less day to recover made a big difference. We tried everything, but there was no solution. Just when we were about to gamble on something, they scored two more goals.”
“It was a tough result in the end, but it was a long road to the semi-finals. It was a sad day and a very difficult one, but we have to look to the future. In three days we will play a strong team. It is difficult to compete at this level, so we hope there are no more injuries. We needed all the players to be fit to play against Aston Villa today.”
What will happen to Forest and Villa?
Aston Villa will take on already relegated Burnley in their next Premier League match, when they visit Turf Moor on Sunday 10th May from 2pm, live on Sky Sports+
Forest are also aiming to survive in the Premier League. They will host the match against Newcastle on May 10th, which will be broadcast live on Sky Sports. Kickoff is also at 2pm.
Sunday, May 10th 1pm
Kickoff at 2pm
