Birmingham, May 8 (IANS) John McGinn and Emiliano Buendia powered Aston Villa into the UEFA Europa League final, courtesy of a 4-1 aggregate victory over Nottingham Forest in the semi-finals, triumphing 4-0 in a pulsating second leg at Villa Park.

Villa will face Freiburg in the UEFA Europa League final at Istanbul’s Besiktas Park on May 20.

Aston Villa, the 1982 European Cup winners, are through to their second major UEFA final. The Villans have not won a major trophy since 1996, losing four cup finals since.

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.

Unai Emery, Aston Villa coach said after the win. “I’m so, so proud of how we played the match. It’s something special to play a final in Istanbul and we can feel proud of how we achieved it, and now enjoy it, enjoy the process, enjoy the final; enjoy preparing the game, respecting the competition, respecting the final, respecting Freiburg.”

–IANS

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