Unai Emery, the master tactician, has guided Aston Villa to their first European final in 44 years after a commanding 4-0 victory over Nottingham Forest in the Europa League semi-final second leg. The win overturned a first-leg deficit and set up a clash with German side Freiburg in Istanbul on May 20.
Dominant Display at Villa Park
Trailing 1-0 from the first leg after Chris Wood's penalty, Villa needed a strong response. Ollie Watkins levelled the aggregate scores in the 36th minute, before Emi Buendia's penalty 13 minutes into the second half put Villa ahead. John McGinn's double sealed the win, ensuring a 4-1 aggregate triumph.
Emery, who has won the Europa League three times with Sevilla and once with Villarreal, praised his side's execution. "At Villa Park we were expecting something different. Today we tried to prepare better, push with the players and we did it," he said. "We were focusing on what we needed to improve and the players responded fantastic. How we won the match was in the plan we had."
Royal Presence
The Prince of Wales attended the match and joined the celebrations in the dressing room. Emery added: "He was in the dressing room with the players and with me, and of course he is so happy as well."
Focus on Premier League
Villa now turn their attention to securing Champions League qualification, with three Premier League games remaining. Emery stressed: "We still have a final to play. We can win and we can lose the final and if we lose we have achieved nothing. We need the Premier League. We need to try and focus on the match on Sunday to get Champions League positions."
Forest's Disappointment
Nottingham Forest, without Morgan Gibbs-White, saw their 10-game unbeaten run end. Manager Vitor Pereira lamented the squad's depth: "If you look at our bench today we brought three players in condition to play and three players injured, three boys from the academy and Murillo with a risk to play. In the end, I’m proud of my team and players, but today we came without conditions to compete for the final."
Forest will look to secure their Premier League status this weekend against Newcastle.
