In the end, it was a rout, Aston Villa sailing into their first European final since 1982. There were fist pumps from Prince William high in the Trinity Road Stand after Emiliano Buendía’s penalty approaching the hour put Villa in command of the tie and then pure delirium as John McGinn buried two near-identical first-time finishes inside three minutes to kill the game. In between serenading Unai Emery, who is hunting a record fifth Europa League title, and drinking in the celebrations, Villa supporters could think about booking flights to Istanbul, where Villa will face Freiburg in search of their first trophy since lifting the League Cup in 1996.

As Vítor Pereira had acknowledged, Emery is the undisputed king of the Europa League and Villa will be heavy favourites in Turkey against a team seventh in the Bundesliga. “You can start packing your bags, start looking for your tickets,” was the message from the giddy stadium announcer on what descended into a rather surreal night, an emotional McGinn wearing a look disbelief as he charged off after adding Villa’s third, the cue for the stewards to line the pitch. McGinn’s second and Villa’s fourth prompted the away end to empty.

John McGinn’s two goals confirmed Villa’s comeback win as they overpowered Forest to reach the final in Istanbul

We’re still in the dark over where Lindelof will play. Unai Emery was curt with TNT: “McGinn, he is important like every player, he is the captian, his connection with the supporters is massive.We must get out best collectively and best individually, John McGinn is very important in this message.”

More Pereira: “Enjoy the game, compete first minute to last minute, be brave, to try to force our game and in the end we will see.He [Gibbs-White] is here to help us, we will see what happens in the game. They need to be ready, this is a moment of the season we need to help the team, I have confidence in everyone, we can change the players but we keep the spirit.In our mind we come here to compete to win the game.”