On the morning of May 8th (Vietnam time), Aston Villa staged a spectacular comeback in the second leg of the Europa League semi-final, crushing Nottingham Forest 4-0.
Aston Villa were too strong for Nottingham Forest - Photo: THE SUN
In the first leg, Nottingham Forest impressed by winning 1-0 at home against Aston Villa, rekindling their hopes of reaching the Europa League final.
In the previous Premier League match, Nottingham Forest even rested several key players against Chelsea, in order to conserve their energy for the second leg of the semi-final.
But then, manager Unai Emery's prowess as the "king of cup competitions" was demonstrated in this morning's match. Using their usual lineup, Aston Villa completely transformed themselves to "destroy" their opponent.
Aston Villa dominated possession from the start of the match, opening the scoring in the 36th minute. Buendia received the ball on the left flank and made a daring run between two of the visiting team's defenders before setting up Watkins for a close-range finish.
At the start of the second half, Buendia continued to play the hero for Aston Villa by successfully converting a penalty (after Milenkovic had fouled Pau Torres earlier), increasing the score to 2-0.
Nottingham Forest collapsed after this goal. McGinn scored two quick goals in the 77th and 80th minutes to seal a 4-0 victory for Aston Villa. They ultimately beat Nottingham Forest 4-1 in the Europa League semi-final.
In the other bracket, Freiburg also staged an impressive comeback, winning 3-1 at home against Braga after losing 1-2 away, thus advancing with an aggregate score of 4-3.
Therefore, the Europa League final will take place between Freiburg and Aston Villa in Istanbul (Türkiye) on the evening of May 20th (local time, early morning of May 21st in Vietnam).
Aston Villa's qualification for the Europa League final also brings good news for the Premier League in general.
If Aston Villa win the Europa League and maintain their 5th position in the domestic league table, the team finishing 6th in the Premier League this season will be awarded a place in next season's Champions League (since Aston Villa have already qualified through the Europa League winner).
This would give teams currently locked in a fierce battle for places 6-11 in the Premier League, including Chelsea, added motivation to compete.