John McGinn said Aston Villa took a giant step towards proving they are not “nearly men” after securing their spot in a first European final since 1982 in front of Prince William, who afterwards joined the players in the dressing room.
Villa’s captain scored twice late on as Villa romped to a 4-0 Europa League semi-final second-leg win over Nottingham Forest to maintain Unai Emery’s hopes of a record fifth title in the competition. Villa will face Freiburg in Istanbul on 20 May.
This was Villa’s third semi-final in three seasons, having exited at the last-four stage in the Europa Conference League in 2023-24 and lost their FA Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace last season.
McGinn completed the scoring after goals by Ollie Watkins and Emiliano Buendía, who scored a penalty. “We didn’t want to leave these games with any regrets, and I think we’ve done ourselves massive justice,” McGinn said. “We’ve had low moments. It’s a demanding club to play for but what we’ve done in the last few years is exceptional. The margins are so slim. If we lost, we’re the nearly men.
“When we go to Istanbul, we need to make sure we’re not the nearly men. I’m normally quite calm before games, but today I was nervous. Tonight was up with one of the best performances I’ve seen from a Villa team for a long time.
“I wasn’t nervous in terms of the team turning up. We’ve turned up in big games, maybe just not in big semi-finals. The injuries Forest have had may have helped decide it, but we needed to capitalise – and we did. The club’s been through some massive lows, but such a massive group deserves success. Hopefully we’ll bring it.”
Emery won the competition three seasons in succession with Sevilla, between 2013 and 2016, and again in 2021 with Villarreal. Emery also reached the final with Arsenal in 2019, when Chelsea prospered. Asked about Prince William’s presence, Emery replied: “He was in the dressing room with the players and, of course, he is so happy. We will enjoy the final with our supporters.”
Afterwards, Watkins praised the Villa manager’s experience and pedigree in the competition. “There is no better manager than this to get us prepared for this game and take us into the final,” said the England striker. “His [Emery’s] track record speaks for itself. We need to go and win it now.”
Forest’s head coach, Vítor Pereira, pointed towards his side’s crippling injury list as a debilitating factor and revealed Morgan Gibbs-White, who was among the substitutes and briefly warmed up in a mask, was never going to feature. “If you look at our bench, we brought [on the] three players in condition to play: [Lorenzo] Lucca, [Dilane] Bakwa and [Ryan] Yates. We had three injured players, who were not in condition to help the team, three boys from the academy and Murillo, who would have been a risk to play. Tomorrow it’s time to come back with energy because we don’t have time to complain. It is a pity because to compete we needed all of the players fit.”
It was also a good night for Bournemouth, Brentford and Brighton, who have a clear route to the Champions League, providing Villa win the Europa League. If Villa overcome Freiburg and finish fifth in the Premier League, then the team that finishes sixth would qualify for the Champions League. Bournemouth, who visit Fulham this weekend, currently occupy sixth spot.
