Aston Villa crush Nottingham Forest 4-0 to reach Europa League final against Freiburg
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Aston Villa's John McGinn (left) and Morgan Rogers celebrate after winning their semi-final, 2nd leg match against Nottingham Forest on May 7.
PHOTO: EPA
- Aston Villa won 4-0 against Nottingham Forest (4-1 agg) to reach the Europa League final. John McGinn scored twice; Emery seeks their first trophy in 30 years.
- Freiburg also reached the final, beating Braga 3-1 (4-3 agg) after Lukas Kuebler scored twice. Braga had a player sent off early in the game.
- Aston Villa will play Freiburg in the Europa League final on May 20 in Istanbul. Villa hopes for their first European trophy since 1982.
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BIRMINGHAM, England - Aston Villa reached the 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 on May 6 for a 4-1 aggregate victory in pursuit of a first trophy in 30 years.
Villa will play Freiburg in Istanbul on May 20 after the German side beat Braga 3-1 on the night and 4-3 on aggregate.
Trailing 1-0 from the first leg, Unai Emery’s Villa team 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.
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 amongst most of the 43,000 fans, including Villa-supporting Prince William.
Aston Villa's John McGinn (right) scores their third goal past Nottingham Forest goalkeeper Stefan Ortega.
PHOTO: EPA
Villa were European champions in 1982 and last won silverware when they lifted the League Cup in 1996. They will hope four-times Europa League winner Emery can add to his tally - for the first time with an English club.
Freiburg beat 10-man Braga
In Germany, Freiburg’s Lukas Kuebler scored twice to fire the hosts into their first European showpiece match.
Braga went down to 10 men in the seventh minute when the hosts beat the offside trap to send Jan-Niklas Beste through on goal and Mario Dorgeles, who came on to net a late winner in the first leg, was shown a red card for taking down the winger.
Freiburg got a fortuitous 19th-minute lead after an attempted clearance ricocheted off Kuebler and the ball bounced in off the upright.
Freiburg’s Lukas Kuebler (right) scores their third goal against Braga.
PHOTO: EPA
The home side’s intense pressure paid off four minutes from the break when Johan Manzambi collected the ball well outside the area and, as Braga stood off, had time to send a powerful curling strike into the far corner of the net.
Braga showed signs of life and almost levelled the tie on aggregate on the stroke of halftime.
Victor Gomez rounded goalkeeper Noah Atubolu but his shot came back off the upright and Rodrigo Zalazar’s rebound effort was blocked by Freiburg defender Philipp Lienhart.
Manzambi forced Braga keeper Lukas Hornicek into a diving save as the hosts looked to press home their numerical advantage after the break and appeared to have finished off the tie with 18 minutes left.
Vincenzo Grifo floated a free kick into the box and Kuebler rose to head into the far corner. However, Braga ensured a nervy ending for the home supporters when Pau Victor headed in from close range 11 minutes from time.
The visitors piled on the pressure in the dying minutes, with Atubolu making a late save from Gabri Martinez before the Freiburg fans could celebrate, with security attempting in vain to keep the supporters off the pitch at the final whistle. REUTERS
