John McGinn and Emiliano Buendía inspired Aston Villa as they turned their UEFA Europa League semi-final around, beating Nottingham Forest 4-0 on the night and 4-1 on aggregate to set up a final with Freiburg in Istanbul.

Although Omari Hutchinson curled just wide early on for the visitors, it was Villa who made most of the running initially without threatening much. Pau Torres forced Stefan Ortega to tip over the bar, Youri Tielemans nodded wide and Ollie Watkins' header was easily held.

But after Tielemans went close from long range, the hosts took the lead their endeavours merited. Emiliano Buendía's quick feet took him past Jair Cunha and Elliot Anderson and allowed him to cut back for Watkins to break the deadlock.

Villa continued with the same intensity after the restart and were awarded a penalty when Nikola Milenković pulled Torres' shirt. Up stepped Buendía, whose finish was emphatic as he steered past Ortega to edge Unai Emery's side ahead overall.

From there, two quick goals from John McGinn finished the contest as Villa sealed their place in a first major UEFA final since 1982. First, the club captain bent in a lovely left-footed effort from Watkins' pass and then, three minutes later, finished from a similar position after receiving from Morgan Rogers.

Each strike was met with more euphoria than the last as Villa's dominant performance took them one step away from what could become their third European trophy.

Recent inconsistent performances had sown some doubt among the Claret and Blue faithful, but they were consummately blown away from the moment Ollie Watkins cancelled out the first-leg deficit. Forest dug in, but once they fell 2-1 down on aggregate they had to throw caution to the wind and Villa capitalised. Europa League master Unai Emery is one game away from title number five. Istanbul beckons. (uefa.com)

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