Aston Villa are through to the Europa League final after not so much erasing their 1-0 deficit from the first leg as obliterating it. Trailing to a Chris Wood penalty from the first leg, Villa completely dominated the second and levelled the tie through Ollie Watkins. An Emi Buendia penalty gave them the lead before a John McGinn brace rounded off a 4-0 win on the night, 4-1 on aggregate, and booked passage to the final in Istanbul. Here are a few things you might have missed on the night.
Vic-tory lap
Villa boss Unai Emery was in eccentric mood in his pre-match flash interview, completely ignoring the first question to say he was 'so, so excited'. A slightly nonplussed interviewer pressed on and asked him about Victor Lindelof's deployment in midfield, and Emery did not really engage with that question either, pointing out 'he is not our goalkeeper'. Indeed he was not. But the Swede was not an out-and-out midfielder in a double pivot either. In possession, he would drop into a back three, and with Matty Cash pushing on the right, McGinn was able to move infield and combine with Tielemans and Emi Buendia to outnumber Elliot Anderson and Nicolas Dominguez. Out of possession, with Cash pushed on, Neco Williams was stuck between marking Cash or following McGinn infield; when he did not, the Scot was free to move up to pressurise Morato. Emery's pre-match interview might have been quirky, but his tactics were absolutely spot on. After the game, McGinn spoke to TNT Sports and praised Lindelof: 'He has probably been a wee bit hard done by since he signed. He has not put a foot wrong that shows how versatile he is. The way he fitted in there tonight he was outstanding. The manager worked on it a lot.' McGinn was in garrulous mode post-match and quipped he would need to take his sun-cream to Istanbul later this month.
Royal flush
Villa's victory will be remembered for so many reasons, but the sight of William, Prince of Wales, bopping along to Sweet Caroline is one that might never be seen again. At 43 years old, the heir apparent was not even born when Neil Diamond released the song in 1969, but that did not stop him having a boogie after the final whistle. First, he exchanged handshakes with anyone within reach, and then he started singing along and pumping his arms, wreathed in smiles. He did show a modicum of decorum when it came to the 'du-du-du' section and made no mention of Villa's cross-city rivals.
Pushover
Villa were not just tactically superior to Forest; they were physically stronger too. First to every ball, assiduous in their work out of possession, Watkins worked as hard helping his defence as he did running Forest's ragged. But never did Villa's pugnacity look a more stark contrast with the Reds' diffidence than five minutes from the end, when Lorenzo Lucca tried to shield the ball near the corner flag from Cash. The Italian towers over the Villa full-back by six inches and cuts a far more imposing specimen, yet it was Cash who simply pushed Lucca aside—not just off the ball but off the pitch, and the Forest striker was basically dismissed with disdain.
Big stage
Lucca only had to suck it up for 19 minutes; poor Jair Cunha had a whole game's worth of difficult moments. Ola Aina's injury—one of so many that undermined Vitor Pereira's selection—forced the centre-back to be deployed as right-back, and he showed none of Lindelof's versatility. Indeed, the young Brazilian looked completely overawed, out of position, and overmatched against the nippy Buendia. He was all over the place for the first goal; his pass into midfield was intercepted and popped down the Forest right. When the ball reached Buendia on the right corner of the area, Watkins made a dummy run into the middle, which caught Jair's eye. But so did Lucas Digne's overlap, and it was that on which he bit. That meant he was the wrong side of Buendia to make any kind of challenge, and the Argentine tip-toed his way through to find Watkins two yards out. Jair was all at sea for the third goal too, when having moved to centre-back he was too far from Nikola Milenkovic, who had been sucked to the right by Watkins. Pau Torres stroked the ball forward, and Jair stood and watched as Morgan Rogers chested it down to Watkins, who swept it to McGinn racing into the space Jair had just vacated. The 21-year-old was only in his 12th game for Forest, and he could well develop into a fine defender, but last night the stage was too high.
