Hibs hero inspires team to European final as brace moves club step closer to ending 30-year drought
The Villans haven’t won a major trophy since 1996
Hibs icon John McGinn inspired Aston Villa to the Europa League final as he fired home two trademark finishes against Nottingham Forest to seal a 4-0 win.
As Forest won the first leg by a goal at the City Ground last week, the Villa captain rallied his side in front of their own fans. After striker Ollie Watkins and midfielder Emiliano Buendia turned the tie on it’s head, McGinn sealed the deal with a measured curled finish into the bottom left corner from the right hand side. Three minutes later, he found himself in the exact same position, but this time, struck the ball the other side past goalkeeper Stefan Ortega to put the icing on the cake.
Villa will now head to Istanbul for the final on May 20, where they will face German side Freiburg, who came from behind themselves to defeat SC Braga 4-3 on aggregate in the other semi-final. The match will be an opportunity for boss Unai Emery to end Aston Villa’s 30-year wait for silverware, as they achieved their last major honour came in the 1996 English League Cup.
Hibs icon targets making history again
McGinn has experience of ending trophy droughts from his time at Easter Road. Before he helped Hibs to their historic Scottish Cup win in 2016, they hadn’t won the competition for over 100 years. Now at Villa, who haven’t won a European trophy since the European Cup in 1982, he’s hoping to be part of a side that makes history.
After the match, he told TNT Sports: “We are embracing it now (the pressure of winning a trophy). You see the guys from 1982, you see the cup winners from the nineties. It’s a historic club, who’ve been starved of success for too long. We’ve been through some massive lows, relegation and then having to build back up. But it’s such a proud football club and the fans deserve success, so hopefully we can be the group that does it.”
McGinn’s rallying cry before Villa victory
The Scotland international turns 32 later this year and was explaining to his teammates prior to the match that some of them may never get the opportunity to play in a European final again. He continued: “The warm-up, the atmosphere in here was electric. But I think what I said to the lads was they might get another opportunity to play in European semi-finals. They don't come along too often. When you get to the 31, it might be the last chance to get a European final. So, it was great celebrations at the end, but we've still got one game to go.
“I'm normally quite calm before games, but the pressure today was intense. I think this group of players deserved to go one step further and to get to a final with a few semi-final disappointments. You can kid on that it doesn't affect you, but today I was nervous going into the game, but tonight was up there with one of the best performances I've seen for a Villa team here in a long time.”