The Sports Buff ⚽️ ⚾️ 🏈

Premier League giants swept aside Premier League rivals Nottingham Forest with a 4-0 thrashing on the night, and 4-1 on aggregate. Coming into the game, both sides were optimistic they could reach a European final after four decades.

Forest, who are managed by former Porto boss Vitor Perrieira, have enjoyed something of a resurgence in recent weeks. The Pine Trees’ form has been so good that one could argue they’re all but safe in this year’s relegation battle, despitre they’re being three more games to play.

So coming into this game. With no pressure of their League status to worry about, I, for one, thought this game would be much closer. In the early stages, with the game being goalless, Forest would have been hoping for a competitive game at least.

Sadly for them, though, after conceding the first goal, they appeared to be up against it and had no answer to a determined and inspired Aston Villa performance.

No doubt Nottingham Forest would be disappointed to be knocked out at this stage of the competition, but to beat Unai Emery in his competition, the Europa League, isn’t easy. The man is like Rafael Nadal at the French Open when it comes to the Europa League.

Freiburg await Emery’s Villa, a fixture that won’t be easy. A match against the Germans, any kind of German, is never an easy one.