Aston Villa booked their place in the Europa League final after beating Nottingham Forest in an exciting match officiated by Glenn Nyberg.
Forest came into the game on Thursday, 7 May, holding a narrow one-goal advantage. However, Ollie Watkins levelled things up in the 36th minute, bringing the crowd at Villa Park to life.
Early in the second half, Emi Buendia scored from the penalty spot after Pau Torres was pulled down inside the box. John McGinn then scored twice as Villa hit four goals past Forest to seal their place in the final.
The match also included several controversial moments involving the referee. Just 16 minutes into the game, Nyberg stopped play to give a yellow card to someone on the Villa bench. Many felt it was unnecessary, and Villa defender Tyrone Mings appeared to laugh at the decision.
Before half-time, Jair Cunha was shown a yellow card for a challenge on Buendia. Replays suggested the tackle may have been more serious than first thought, and some believed VAR could have upgraded it to a red card. Luckily for Forest, the defender stayed on the pitch.
Another big talking point came in the 57th minute when Villa appealed for a penalty after Nikola Milenkovic pulled down Pau Torres in the area. Although many inside the stadium felt it was an obvious foul, the referee did not give the penalty immediately. VAR quickly stepped in, and Villa were finally awarded the spot-kick.
Many fans and pundits believed the decision was clear enough that VAR should not have been needed in the first place.
