Aston Villa captain John McGinn has challenged his teammates to “become legends” after their emphatic victory over Nottingham Forest secured a place in the Europa League final.
Trailing from the first leg, Unai Emery’s side produced a dominant display at Villa Park and overwhelmed their Premier League rivals from start to finish. Ollie Watkins levelled the tie before Emi Buendia converted from the penalty spot to give Villa the advantage.
As he has done so many times in claret and blue, McGinn stepped up in the closing stages and scored twice to seal a memorable night and send Villa through to the final in Istanbul.
The Villa skipper admitted after the match that he had felt the pressure ahead of such a huge occasion, but described the performance as one of the best he has witnessed during his time at the club.
“I’m normally quite calm before games but today the pressure was intense,” McGinn told TNT Sports.
“As a group of players we deserve to go one step further. We have had a few semi-final disappointments and we can kid on that it doesn’t affect us, but today I was nervous.
“Tonight was one of the best performances I’ve seen from a Villa team in a long, long time.”
McGinn also urged his teammates to embrace the opportunity to write themselves into Aston Villa history by lifting the Europa League trophy.
“I said to the lads before that some will get the chance to play in a semi-final in Europe again, but at 31 I might not get another chance,” he added.
“The celebrations were great at the end but there is one to go. It is about embracing it now and trying to become legends.
“This club deserves success and we want to be the group that does it.”
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