Aston Villa fans in tears as Villans reach first European final in 44 years with mauling of Nottingham Forest

Aston Villa have reached the Europa League final courtesy of a 4-1 aggregate victory against Nottingham Forest.

Ollie Watkins, Emi Buendia and a John McGinn double saw Villa win 4-0 at Villa Park and turn the semi-final on its head after the first leg defeat.

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Villa will face German club Freiburg in the final on May 20, with the match being played at the Besiktas Stadium in Istanbul.

It will be their first European showpiece since 1982 when they won the European Cup and Super Cup under Tony Barton.

Unai Emery’s side had to deliver in the second leg having been on poor form in the first at the City Ground last Thursday night.

They also returned to Villa Park just four days after their dismal performance during their 2-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur.

Watkins, who suffered a nasty head injury and required a bandage, put them ahead on 36 minutes after a skilful move from Buendia.

The latter then put Villa ahead on aggregate shortly before the hour mark after Nikola Milenkovic fouled Pau Torres.

Milenkovic pulled the Villa defender’s shirt inside the area, with referee Glenn Nyberg awarding the spot-kick following a VAR check.

It was clumsy from the Serbia international, who was criticised by ex-Forest man Jack Colback.

“It’s lazy defending, there’s no need to grab the shirt,” he said when on commentary for talkSPORT. “It’s a crazy decision.”

Forest needed to score just one goal to level the tie and therefore spark extra-time, but McGinn put Villa out of sight.

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He netted two almost identical first-time finishes within the space of four minutes to wrap up the scoring, sparking tearful scenes among the Villa fan base.

McGinn is now set to lead his side out at the Europa League final in two weeks.

Should they beat Freiburg, Villa will lift their first trophy since the 1995/96 League Cup.

They will also qualify for next season’s Champions League, although they are on course to do so via their Premier League position.

If Villa win the Europa League and finish fifth in the league, then the team that finish sixth will also get a Champions League spot.

Bournemouth are currently in the driving seat, but Brentford and Brighton are one and two points behind them respectively.