Buendía and McGinn the heroes as Villa fire past Forest to reach Europa League final

In the end, it was a rout, Aston Villa sailing into their first major European final since 1982. There were fist pumps from Prince William high in the Trinity Road Stand after Emiliano Buendía’s penalty approaching the hour put Villa in command of the tie and then pure delirium as John McGinn buried two near-identical first-time finishes inside five minutes to kill the game. In between serenading Unai Emery, who is hunting a record fifth Europa League title, and drinking in the celebrations, Villa supporters could think about booking flights to Istanbul, where Villa will face Freiburg in search of their first trophy since lifting the League Cup in 1996.

For Nottingham Forest, probably safe in the Premier League, defeat extinguished Evangelos Marinakis’s hopes of silverware and represented a hard stop to their 10-game unbeaten run.