John McGinn the Europa League hero in 18 year first for Scotland as Man Utd loanee completes remarkable treble
Scotland internationals leads team to brink of European glory at Villa Park.
Scotland talisman John McGinn was the man of the moment as he scored twice to fire his Aston Villa side into the final of the Europa League with a thumping 4-0 win over Nottingham Forest in the semi-final second leg at Villa Park on Thursday night.
McGinn, 31, captained the side as they looked to overturn a 1-0 first leg deficit against the Reds, and got off to the perfect start when some sublime skill from Emi Buendia allowed him to cross for Ollie Watkins, who blasted home to level the scores on aggregate in the 36th minute.
Unai Emery’s side were then handed a golden opportunity to put themselves into the lead in the tie when VAR adjudged that Nikola Milenkovic had tugged Villa centre-back Pau Torres in the area, and Buendia made no mistake from the spot in the 58th minute.
As the Villains started to dominate proceedings, Watkins thought he’d scored his second of the night after blasting home beyond Stefan Ortega on the hour mark, only for the goal to be correctly chalked off for offside. McGinn then went close to adding a third with a volley from just inside the area.
The Scotland midfielder didn’t have to wait much longer to add his name to the scoresheet, though, with the former Hibs man curling home a clinching third goal. A neat knockdown from Morgan Rogers allowed Watkins to tee up McGinn on the edge of the box, and he stroked home into the net as Villa put one foot into the Europa League final with just 13 minutes of the tie remaining.
McGinn repeated the trick three minutes later with an almost identical strike as the Scotland international completed the scoring in front of Villa’s famous Holte End to sealed their place in a European final for the first time in 44 years. They’ll face Bundesliga outfit SC Freiburg in Istanbul, Turkiye on Wednesday, May 20.
Should he play in the Turkish capital, McGinn will become the first Scot since Barry Ferguson to captain his team in a major European final, with the former Rangers midfielder the last Scottish player to lead his side out in the UEFA Cup Final defeat to Zenit in 2008.
“I’m normally quite calm before games but the pressure today was intense,” McGinn told TNT Sports. “This group of players deserve to go one step further. We’ve had a few semi-final disappointments and you can kid on that it doesn’t affect you. I was nervous coming into the game and tonight was up there with one of the best performances I’ve seen here from a Villa team. We started with intent.
“We were probably lucky with the injuries Nottingham Forest had that weakened their side, but we needed to capitalise, and we did today. We’ve been through a lot together. We’ve had low moments here, definitely. It’s a demanding club to play for, but when it’s like this, Villa Park is electric. There’s no better place to play your football every second week.”
The result means Villa head coach Emery has reached the sixth Europa League final of his career, with the Spanish coach chasing a record-breaking fifth winners' medal in the competition. He has previously won the competition three times with Sevilla and once with Villarreal.
It also means McGinn’s teammate, Manchester United loanee Jaden Sancho, will play in the final of a European competition for the third consecutive season, having featured for Borussia Dortmund in the 2024 Champions League final and the Conference League final with Chelsea in 2025.
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