John McGinn and Emiliano Buendía inspired Aston Villa as they turned their UEFA Europa League semi-final around, beating Nottingham Forest 4-0 on the night and 4-1 on aggregate to set up a final with Freiburg in Istanbul.
Although Omari Hutchinson curled just wide early on for the visitors, it was Villa who made most of the running initially without threatening much. Pau Torres forced Stefan Ortega to tip over the bar, Youri Tielemans nodded wide and Ollie Watkins' header was easily held.
But after Tielemans went close from long range, the hosts took the lead their endeavours merited. Emiliano Buendía's quick feet took him past Jair Cunha and Elliot Anderson and allowed him to cut back for Watkins to break the deadlock.
Villa continued with the same intensity after the restart and were awarded a penalty when Nikola Milenković pulled Torres' shirt. Up stepped Buendía, whose finish was emphatic as he steered past Ortega to edge Unai Emery's side ahead overall.
From there, two quick goals from John McGinn finished the contest as Villa sealed their place in a first major UEFA final since 1982. First, the club captain bent in a lovely left-footed effort from Watkins' pass and then, three minutes later, finished from a similar position after receiving from Morgan Rogers.
Each strike was met with more euphoria than the last as Villa's dominant performance took them one step away from what could become their third European trophy.
Freiburg overturn away defeat
Lukas Kübler's double and a sublime curling finish from Johan Manzambi helped Freiburg recover from last week's away defeat to beat ten-man Braga 4-3 on aggregate in the other UEFA Europa League semi-finals and book their place in Istanbul for the first European final in the club's history.
Freiburg had won all six of their previous home fixtures in the Europa League and knew they needed another victory to have a chance of overturning the 2-1 deficit from last week's game in Portugal.
The balance of play quickly shifted towards Julian Schuster's side when Mario Dorgeles – the Braga hero of the first leg with his late winner off the bench – impeded Jan-Niklas Beste and was sent off with only seven minutes played.
Freiburg made the most of the numerical advantage to level the aggregate score when Lukas Kübler forced his way into the penalty area and bundled the ball in via the inside of the post for his first Europa League goal of the season – the 12th Freiburg player to find the net in the competition this term.
The German club then went ahead for the first time in the tie four minutes before half-time, Johan Manzambi's sweet curler found the top corner from outside the box. Braga almost hit back before the break, Victor Gómez denied by the post on the verge of half-time.
Freiburg came out for the second period looking for a third but had to wait until the 72nd minute as Kübler struck again with a powerful header from Vincenzo Grifo's free-kick.
Braga responded with 11 minutes remaining, Pau Víctor heading in at the far post from a set-piece routine to set up a tense finale. Despite a late surge from the visitors, Freiburg held on to claim a 4-3 aggregate win and reach only their second major final and first in Europe.
Source: UEFA