{"id":238869,"date":"2026-04-16T23:06:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T23:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/16\/europa-league-2026-aston-villa-and-nottingham-forest-lock-in-all-english-semi-final-showdown\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T23:06:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T23:06:00","slug":"europa-league-2026-aston-villa-and-nottingham-forest-lock-in-all-english-semi-final-showdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/16\/europa-league-2026-aston-villa-and-nottingham-forest-lock-in-all-english-semi-final-showdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Europa League 2026: Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest lock in all-English semi-final showdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Aston Villa demolished Bologna and Nottingham Forest beat Porto in the Europa League on Thursday to set up an all-English showdown in the semi-finals.<\/p>\n

Leading 3-1 from the quarter-final first leg, Unai Emery\u2019s team swatted aside Bologna with a 4-0 victory at Villa Park.<\/p>\n

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Forest, 12 spots below fourth-placed Villa in the Premier League, defeated 10-man Porto 1-0 in Nottingham to secure a 2-1 aggregate success.<\/p>\n

Villa are into their second European semi-final under Emery after making the last four in the Conference League in 2024.<\/p>\n

Europa League specialist Emery has won the tournament four times — three with Sevilla and one at Villarreal — and also finished as a runner-up with Arsenal.<\/p>\n

Ollie Watkins had scored twice in the first leg in Italy and the England striker tormented Bologna again in the 16th minute.<\/p>\n

It was an eye-catching goal as Villa\u2019s flowing 14-pass move climaxed with Morgan Rogers setting up Watkins for a tap-in from six yards.<\/p>\n

Watkins\u2019 100th goal for Villa made him the club\u2019s top scorer in European competitions with 10, overtaking Peter Withe and John McGinn.<\/p>\n

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Ollie Watkins, Tammy Abraham and Leon Bailey of Aston Villa celebrate victory.<\/span>Source: Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Villa missed a 25th minute penalty after Martin Vitik handled a header from Rogers, whose spot-kick was saved by Federico Ravaglia.<\/p>\n

But it was only a temporary reprieve for Bologna as Emiliano Buendia struck with a fierce blast in the 26th minute.<\/p>\n

Rogers made up for his penalty miss in the 39th minute, netting for the first time in 12 games with a drive that beat Ravaglia at his near post.<\/p>\n

Ezri Konsa\u2019s 89th-minute volley capped Villa\u2019s dominant display. \u201cWe needed to get the first goal, it was very important. They are a dangerous team away from home,\u201d Villa captain John McGinn said.<\/p>\n

\u201cA great first half gets us to a semi-final, I\u2019m delighted.\u201d At the City Ground, two-time European champions Forest booked their first continental semi-final since the 1983-84 UEFA Cup.<\/p>\n

Porto defender Jan Bednarek was dismissed in the eighth minute for an ugly foul that caught Chris Wood on the knee and forced the New Zealand striker to limp off injured.<\/p>\n

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PSG end Liverpools UCL campaign | 00:57<\/p>\n

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– Emotion at Forest –<\/b><\/p>\n

Forest quickly took advantage of their numerical superiority as Morgan Gibbs-White\u2019s shot from the edge of the penalty area took a hefty deflection before looping into the back of the net in the 12th minute.<\/p>\n

Gibbs-White celebrated by holding up a shirt with Elliot Anderson\u2019s name on it in a tribute to the Forest star, who missed the game due to the death of his mother.<\/p>\n

There was another emotional moment at half-time when former Forest striker Tony Woodwork was presented with a winners\u2019 medal from the 1980 European Cup.<\/p>\n

Woodcock\u2019s strained relationship with then Forest boss Brian Clough led him to be denied a medal after he left the club during their run to win the competition for a second successive season.<\/p>\n

Forest had a narrow escape when Porto\u2019s William Gomes hit the woodwork from close-range in the second-half and they rode their luck again in the closing minutes as Alan Varela struck the crossbar.<\/p>\n

Playing in Europe for the first time since the 1995-96 UEFA Cup, Vitor Pereira\u2019s side will hope their Europa run provides a boost in their battle to avoid relegation.<\/p>\n

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Morgan Gibbs-White of Nottingham Forest celebrates victory.<\/span>Source: Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe club and the supporters deserve it. I have a fantastic team. They have the spirit, character and quality,\u201d Pereira said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s too much to think Villa now. I will think about it after Burnley this weekend.\u201d Freiburg swept into the Europa League semi-finals for the first time with a 3-1 win against Celta Vigo.<\/p>\n

After taking the first leg 3-0 in Germany, Julian Schuster\u2019s side finished the job in Vigo, winning 6-1 on aggregate thanks to Igor Matanovic\u2019s opener and Yuito Suzuki\u2019s double.<\/p>\n

In the semi-finals, Freiburg will play Sporting Braga, who came from behind to win 4-2 at Real Betis, sealing a 5-3 aggregate triumph.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aston Villa demolished Bologna and Nottingham Forest beat Porto in the Europa League on Thursday to set up an all-English showdown in the semi-finals. Leading 3-1 from the quarter-final first leg, Unai Emery\u2019s team swatted aside Bologna with a 4-0 victory at Villa Park. \ufeffGet all the latest football news, highlights and analysis delivered straight […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":238870,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6807],"tags":[9530,8991,71974,71969,2230,1736,548,56058,1192,4772,71977,3493,56908,49790,85,4399,1429,5145,4537,17209,71967,71975,149,4232,2458,3268,12281,71973,167,1427,1728,3229,14244,71972,854,6414,71970,1711,2457,7978,71976,71968,1252,3150,71971],"class_list":{"0":"post-238869","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leagues-cups","8":"tag-aggregate-triumph","9":"tag-alan-varela","10":"tag-all-english-semi-final-showdown","11":"tag-all-english-showdown","12":"tag-aston-villa-football-club","13":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","14":"tag-bayern-munich","15":"tag-brian-clough","16":"tag-champions-league","17":"tag-chris-wood","18":"tag-continental-semi-final","19":"tag-dominant-display","20":"tag-drought-ends","21":"tag-elliot-anderson","22":"tag-england","23":"tag-europa-league","24":"tag-europe","25":"tag-european-champions","26":"tag-european-competitions","27":"tag-european-semi-final","28":"tag-fantastic-team","29":"tag-federico-ravaglia","30":"tag-football-news","31":"tag-germany","32":"tag-italy","33":"tag-jan-bednarek","34":"tag-john-mcginn","35":"tag-julian-schuster","36":"tag-new-zealand","37":"tag-northern-europe","38":"tag-oceania","39":"tag-penalty-area","40":"tag-penalty-miss","41":"tag-peter-withe","42":"tag-premier-league","43":"tag-real-betis","44":"tag-rivals-lock","45":"tag-semi-finals","46":"tag-southern-europe","47":"tag-tammy-abraham","48":"tag-temporary-reprieve","49":"tag-tony-woodwork","50":"tag-unai-emery","51":"tag-western-europe","52":"tag-william-gomes"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}