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In the end, it was a rout, Aston Villa sailing into their first major European final since 1982. There were fist pumps from Prince William high in the Trinity Road Stand after Emiliano Buendía’s penalty approaching the hour put Villa in command of the tie and then pure delirium as John McGinn buried two near-identical first-time finishes inside five minutes to kill the game. In between serenading Unai Emery, who is hunting a record fifth Europa League title, and drinking in the celebrations, Villa supporters could think about booking flights to Istanbul, where Villa will face Freiburg in search of their first trophy since lifting the League Cup in 1996.
For Nottingham Forest, probably safe in the Premier League, defeat extinguished Evangelos Marinakis’s hopes of silverware and represented a hard stop to their 10-game unbeaten run.
Villa seized the lead when Ollie Watkins scored from close range in the first half but McGinn’s first goal and Villa’s third was the cue for the stewards to line the pitch and the Forest end emptied after he added a fourth. Then came the reminders that it is a criminal offence to invade the pitch.
The onus was on Villa to attack Forest given they trailed from the first leg owing to Chris Wood’s penalty. There was a call to arms of sorts from Emery and the volume at Villa Park was turned up to 11, in sharp contrast from Sunday’s deflating defeat to Tottenham. Suddenly, and understandably, all was forgotten.
There were claret and blue flags on every seat in the home end and a supercharged atmosphere fit for the occasion between grand old clubs fighting to reach a European showpiece.
A little needle was a given. Emiliano Martínez, who perhaps perennially will enjoy the role of pantomime villain, shoved his opposite number, Stefan Ortega, as Forest’s team huddle took place in front of the away end but inside Villa’s half. On the pitch Elliot Anderson, who Emery was adamant should have been sent off for a poor challenge on Watkins in the reverse fixture, exchanged words with Morgan Rogers after a biting tackle by the Forest midfielder. Moises de Hoyo, Villa’s fitness coach, voiced his anger and earned a booking from the Swedish referee, Glenn Nyberg. Nicolás Domínguez made a hasty challenge on Emiliano Buendía and Morato was booked for a rash tackle on Rogers as he raced into the Forest half.
There was a spikiness to Emery, too. Before the game, when asked whether Victor Lindelöf may be pushed into midfield to fill in for the injured Amadou Onana, the Villa manager had a curt response “Lindelöf is not a goalkeeper,” he said. Lindelöf’s early booming header set the tone for Villa, whose front-foot display was rewarded on 35 minutes when Watkins converted Buendía’s squared pass.
The goal was painful from a Forest perspective, stemming from a communication mixup between Nikola Milenkovic and Ortega. Jair Cunha hoofed his clearance upfield but Youri Tielemans seized possession and kickstarted the all-important move. Buendía’s wonderful dancing feet on the left flank bamboozled Forest, the Argentinian wriggling between Anderson and Jair Cunha, and then he looked into the box and spied Watkins, who side-footed home. Villa had lift-off.
Villa restored parity in the tie. Your move, Forest? Forest’s best first-half moments stemmed from James McAtee, who had the sizable task of replacing Morgan Gibbs-White, who was on the bench after Monday’s collision with Robert Sánchez at Stamford Bridge left the Forest captain with a nasty cut and a dozen stitches. Gibbs-White warmed up in a tailor-made black face mask. It was McAtee’s delivery from the left that caused Villa problems twice in quick succession, his first cross culminating in Omari Hutchinson flashing a shot wide and the second prompting Lindelöf into an emergency clearance with Wood lurking. The only other thing troubling Villa in a first half they dominated was perceived time-wasting by Ortega.
Vítor Pereira, who spent much of the game perched on a drinks box in the away technical area, recognised his side required a dose of Villa’s energy and who better to provide it than Ryan Yates? Yates, who joined Forest as an eight-year-old and is Forest’s answer to Villa’s all-action captain, John McGinn, got to work. Forest, though, failed to regain their composure and when Milenkovic got hands-on in the box with Pau Torres, he was always running the risk of being punished.
Milenkovic got to grips with the No 14 on Torres’s shirt after Buendía crossed for the defender. Torres made a mess of trapping the ball but, like Lucas Digne last week, there was no room to hide. The locals cheered when the referee was sent to the pitch side video assistant referee monitor and then Nyberg pointed to the spot. Ortega dived to his right but Buendía’s crisp penalty zipped beyond him and into the corner.
For a split-second, Villa thought they added a third on the hour when Watkins slotted past Ortega, but Rogers was plainly offside in the buildup.
It was an unmarked McGinn who wasted a chance to make it 3-0 when side-footing a tame effort at Ortega from close to the penalty spot and Villa’s skipper knew it, twisting away from the scene in visible frustration. Buendía poked an effort wide. Would Forest rouse?
Forest failed to test Martiínez all game and Villa took the initiative to wrap up the game, McGinn placing two shots past Ortega in five barmy minutes. “Four-nil on yer big day out,” crooned the home support as the final whistle loomed.
