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.
