Villa and Forest to meet

Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest will meet in an all-English Europa League semifinal after both won their quarterfinals on Thursday. (uefa.com) Villa beat Bologna 4-0 at Villa Park on April 16 to go through 7-1 on aggregate, with goals from Ollie Watkins, Emi Buendía, Morgan Rogers and Ezri Konsa. Watkins’ opener was his 100th goal for Villa. (avfc.co.uk) Forest beat Porto 1-0 at the City Ground on April 16 and advanced 2-1 on aggregate after Morgan Gibbs-White scored in the 12th minute. ESPN reported it was Forest’s first European semifinal since 1984. (espn.com) The semifinal matchup was already set by the February 27 draw, which placed the winners of Porto-Forest and Bologna-Villa in the same half of the bracket. Thursday’s results turned that path into a Villa-Forest tie. (uefa.com) UEFA confirmed on April 17 that the other semifinal will be Braga against Freiburg. The first legs are scheduled for April 29 or 30, with second legs on May 6 or 7, and the final is set for Istanbul on May 20. (uefa.com) Villa reached the last eight after beating Lille 3-0 on aggregate in the round of 16, while Forest got past Midtjylland on penalties before drawing Porto in the quarterfinals. Porto had eliminated Stuttgart, and Bologna had beaten Roma after extra time. (uefa.com) Forest’s run revives a European pedigree that dates to the club’s back-to-back European Cup titles in 1979 and 1980. Villa’s own continental high point came with the 1982 European Cup, giving this semifinal two clubs with old European histories and recent domestic rebuilds. (espn.com) (avfc.co.uk) For now, the bracket has narrowed to four clubs and one all-English tie. Villa’s scoring surge and Forest’s one-goal edge have put both within two matches of the May 20 final. (uefa.com)