Aston Villa 4-0 Nottingham Forest: McGinn masterclass sends Villans to first European final in 44 years

Aston Villa thrashed Nottingham Forest 4-0 in the Europa League semi-final second leg at Villa Park on Thursday.

They won 4-1 on aggregate and will now face SC Freiburg in the final.

Stefan Ortega produced the game’s first save, tipping Pau Torres’ header over. Youri Tielemans then headed wide from a corner.

Ollie Watkins gave the Villans the lead in the 36th minute, combining with Emi Buendia to turn the ball home.

The English forward nearly doubled Villa’s advantage, but Ortega pushed away his curling effort.

John McGinn delivered a dangerous ball across the face of the goal after the break, but Morgan Rogers failed to connect.

Villa were awarded a penalty after Torres was fouled in the area, and Buendia converted from the spot.

Rogers thought he had scored Villa’s third on the hour mark, only for his effort to be ruled out for offside.

The hosts showed no sign of relenting as the ball fell kindly for McGinn, whose first-time shot was saved by Ortega.

Forest were not ready to give up and created an opening from a counter-attack. Hutchinson whipped in a cross to the far post, but Igor Jesus steered his header wide.

Chris Wood squandered a good opportunity to pull one back for the visitors after being put through on goal, but Emi Martinez quickly came off his line to deny him.

McGinn made it 3-0 in the 77th minute, finding the far corner with a brilliant first-time finish.

The Scot completed the scoring three minutes later, sending Villa to their first European final in 44 years.