Aston Villa on Wednesday reached the UEFA Europa League final with a 4-0 win over Nottingham Forest, including two goals from John McGinn in the second leg of their all-English semi-final for a 4-1 aggregate victory as they chase their first trophy in 30 years.
The Premier League side face SC Freiburg in Istanbul on May 20 after the Bundesliga team beat Braga 4-3 on aggregate.
Trailing 1-0 from the first leg, Unai Emery’s Villa came out all guns blazing at a pulsating Villa Park and got the lead their dominance deserved in the 36th minute when Watkins tapped in following brilliant footwork from Emiliano Buendia.
Photo: EPA
Thirteen minutes into the second half, Buendia got Villa’s second with a coolly struck penalty after Nikola Milenkovic needlessly tugged Pau Torres’ shirt in the area.
Captain McGinn swept in carbon-copy goals in the 77th and 80th minutes to spark delirium among most of the 43,000 fans, including Villa-supporting Prince William.
Villa were European champions in 1982 and last won silverware when they lifted the League Cup in 1996.
Photo: EPA
They will hope four-time Europa League winner Emery can add to his tally — for the first time with an English club.
“There’s no better manager than this to get us prepared for this game and obviously take us into the final as well,” said goalscorer Watkins, whose head was bandaged for most of the game after an early clash. “His track record speaks for itself. We’re in a great position. We need to go there and win now.”
Emery has an unmatched four Europe League wins as a manager, three with Sevilla and one with Villarreal.
Photo: Reuters
Apart from one early shot by Omari Hutchinson, Forest went down tamely, managing only two shots on target to Villa’s 10.
In Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, Lukas Kuebler scored in each half as Freiburg beat SC Braga 3-1 at home.
Freiburg trailed by a goal from the opening leg, but were given a leg up after seven minutes when Mario Dorgeles of Braga was shown a straight red card.
Photo: EPA
Kuebler’s opener and Johan Manzambi’s brilliant effort had the hosts 2-0 up and one ahead in the tie by halftime.
Kuebler added another in the second half.
Pau Victor pulled one back for Braga late in the match.
In London, Crystal Palace reached the UEFA Conference League final after a 2-1 win over Shakhtar Donetsk at Selhurst Park gave them a 5-2 aggregate victory, earning the Premier League side a place in the decider in their first season in European competition.
Palace are to end their campaign with a showpiece match against Rayo Vallecano on May 27 in Leipzig, Germany, after the Spanish side beat RC Strasbourg Alsace 1-0 to advance 2-0 on aggregate.
Additional reporting by AFP
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