McGinn’s brace fires Aston Villa into Europa League final after Forest rout

Aston Villa claimed a comfortable 4-0 victory over Nottingham Forest in the UEFA Europa League semi-final second leg at Villa Park on Thursday, advancing to the final 4-1 on aggregate.

Nine minutes into the contest, the away side threatened first as James McAtee teed up Omari Hutchinson, whose curling effort flashed just wide.

At the other end, Stefan Ortega brilliantly tipped away Pau Torres’ header from Matty Cash’s cross before Youri Tielemans nodded a corner wide minutes later.

In the 36th minute, Ollie Watkins opened the scoring after he fired home Emiliano Buendia’s cross from close range to bring the hosts level in the tie.

Moments later, Watkins nearly grabbed his second of the game, but Ortega comfortably collected his long-range effort.

In the 55th minute, the Villans were awarded a penalty after Torres went down in the area under the challenge of Nikola Milenkovic, following a VAR review.

Buendia stepped up for the spot-kick and converted beyond Ortega.

On the hour mark, Watkins thought he had scored Villa’s third after he converted Morgan Rogers’ flick, but he was denied by the offside flag.

Minutes later, John McGinn wasted a golden chance to extend Villa’s lead in the tie as he fired straight at Ortega from close range, before the goalkeeper also kept out Rogers’ long-range effort.

In the 77th minute, McGinn increased the deficit after he was found by Watkins before finding the far corner.

Three minutes later, the Villa captain grabbed his second and wrapped up the scoring with a first-time finish from Rogers’ pass.

Aston Villa will contest their first European final in 44 years when they face SC Freiburg in the Europa League final in Istanbul on May 20.