Villa, Forest to meet in semi’s – Europa League wrap

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Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest booked their places in the Europa League semi-finals on Thursday, setting up an all-English clash in the last four.

Villa produced a dominant performance at Villa Park, thrashing Bologna 4-0 to seal a 7-1 aggregate victory. Leading 3-1 from the first leg, Unai Emery’s side controlled the tie from the start and showed their attacking quality throughout.

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Ollie Watkins opened the scoring after 16 minutes, finishing off a flowing move to register his 100th goal for the club. Emiliano Buendía added a second shortly after, while Morgan Rogers made amends for a missed penalty by scoring before half-time. Ezri Konsa completed the win late on as Villa underlined their status as one of the favourites in the competition.

Forest joined them after a 1-0 win over Porto at the City Ground secured a 2-1 aggregate triumph. The game turned early when Porto were reduced to 10 men, allowing Forest to take control.

Morgan Gibbs-White struck the decisive goal in the 12th minute, with a deflected effort finding the net. Forest were forced to defend in the second half, with Porto hitting the woodwork twice, but held on to reach their first European semi-final in decades.

Elsewhere, Freiburg advanced to their first Europa League semi-final with a 3-1 win over Celta Vigo, completing a 6-1 aggregate victory. They will face Braga, who came from behind to beat Real Betis 4-2 and progress 5-3 on aggregate.

The semi-final line-up now sets up two contrasting ties, with an all-English battle between Villa and Forest, while Freiburg meet Braga.

– AFP

Photo: REUTERS/Dylan Martinez

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Dylan Johnson