Villa end long wait for a major European final
Aston Villa reached their first major European final since winning the European Cup in 1982.
Unai Emery’s side beat Nottingham Forest 4-0 at Villa Park on Thursday and advanced 4-1 on aggregate.
Ollie Watkins and Emi Buendia scored before captain John McGinn added 2 more goals to seal the result.
McGinn wants Villa to stop being nearly men
McGinn said Villa must now finish the job and end the club’s 30-year wait for a major trophy.
The captain admitted the pressure before the Forest match was intense, especially after 3 straight defeats to Fulham, Forest and Tottenham.
He said Villa Park was electric and called the performance one of the best he had seen from the team in a long time.
Emery chases fifth Europa League title
Villa will face Freiburg in the final in Istanbul on May 20.
Emery is chasing his fifth Europa League title. He has already won the competition 3 times with Sevilla and once with Villarreal.
Watkins praised Emery after the match and said there is no better manager to prepare Villa for a final.
Villa aim to end trophy drought
Aston Villa’s last major trophy was the League Cup in 1996.
McGinn said the current squad now has a chance to become part of the club’s history alongside the 1982 European Cup winners and the 1990s cup-winning team.
Watkins added that reaching the final is not enough. Villa now need to go to Istanbul and win.
