Aston Villa qualifies for Europa League final Following a stunning 4-0 win over Nottingham Forest at Villa Park – 4-1 on aggregate – John McGinn scored twice in three minutes to book their place in Istanbul on 20 May.
Ollie Watkins gave Villa the lead they needed in the 36th minute, Emiliano Buendia scored a penalty in the 58th minute, and McGinn then put his name in Villa folklore with two goals in quick succession in the final quarter-hour.
Forest, exhausted by their Premier League encounter, were unable to reproduce the competitive advantage that gave them the lead in the first leg at the City Ground last Thursday.
Buendia: “I knew exactly what I wanted to do”
One of the big moments of the match came 13 minutes into the second half when referee Alejandro Hernandez Hernandez pointed to a penalty kick after Forest was tackled inside the box. Emiliano Buendia stepped up with the tie still in the balance and sent the ball over, even admitting afterwards that he did not feel the pressure.
“I took responsibility. It was one of the most decisive penalties for the club in recent years, but I didn’t feel the pressure. I felt calm, and I knew exactly what I wanted to do.”
“We know how difficult these games are. They showed some character in the first leg. We knew at the beginning that we needed to start strong. Everyone ran a lot and fought a lot. We showed all season how well we played. The result is amazing and I think we deserve it.”
“I think winning the title, with the history this club has, would be amazing. The fans really want this trophy for us, and we’ll try. It’s a final. We need to prepare well and keep progressing in the Premier League as well because we need to finish the season as high as possible.”
McGinn channels the pain of a semi-final exit
If Buendia was the calm one in the moment that decided the tie, McGinn was the heart of the entire night. The Scotland captain, who turned 31 last month, scored twice in the space of 183 seconds to finish the job and admits afterwards that this final carried a weight he cannot fully put into words.
“I’m usually calm before games, but today I was nervous. Tonight I had one of the best performances I’ve seen from Villa for a long time.
“I wasn’t nervous about making the team. We showed up in big games, maybe not in the grand semi-final. Forest’s injuries may have helped decide the outcome, but we needed to capitalize on that – and we did. The atmosphere here was electric.
“I felt nervous this morning, but now it’s about embracing that. You see the players in 1982, the cup winners in the 1990s. The club has been through some serious decline, but such a huge group deserves success. Hopefully we can be the ones to make it happen.”
“The margins in football are very slim. If we lose tonight, we will be the closest men. When we go to Istanbul, we need to make sure we are not the closest men.
“What I told the players is that they may not get another chance to play in a European final. They don’t come very often. When you get to 31, this may be the last chance to get to a European final.”
Pereira: “It was not possible to compete”
Forest coach Vitor Pereira was frustrated but honest in his assessment of what had happened to his legs, citing an injury crisis that had left him with a shabby bench and players without any level of full fitness.
“To compete in the semi-final and against a team like Aston Villa, we need everyone in the right conditions to compete. If you look before the game on the bench, we had three players, because the others were injured. The bench we had today – the only solutions we had from the first team were Pacoa, Luca, Murillo, who we tried but he was injured and not in good condition, and Yates. That’s too short to come here without solutions.”
“Aina, out. Morgan (Gibbs-White), out. Sangare, out. Murilo, out. Callum (Hudson-Odoi), out. Ndoye, out. To bring in the full squad, we put three injured players on the bench and brought in three other players from the academy. Competing in a match in these conditions, after a match against Chelsea, and playing in the semi-final is not possible.”
He also questioned management, although he restrained himself from using it as a primary explanation for the loss.
“I didn’t see that but I’ll tell you one thing, this referee was a very good referee but not for us. We got a lot of yellow cards and fouls, a lot of fouls against us and they forget. He allowed a lot of aggression. In the end I don’t want to use any excuse. To appeal, today we were not at our level to compete for the semi-finals.”
Aston Villa will now face German side Freiburg in the Europa League final in Istanbul on May 20, with the chance to win the club’s first European title since winning the European Cup in 1982.
