Ollie Watkins scored his 100th goal for Aston Villa in a 4-0 victory over Bologna, clinching a 7-1 aggregate success which secured the club’s place in the semi-finals of the UEFA Europa League.
Watkins joins an exclusive club of just 12 Villa players to register a century of goals in claret and blue, becoming the first player to achieve the incredible feat since Peter McParland reached the milestone 66 years ago during the 1960/61 campaign.
The striker, who bagged a brace in last week’s 3-1 first-leg victory in Italy, converted a low cross from Morgan Rogers to net the opening goal after just 16 minutes at Villa Park – in the process becoming the first player in the club’s history to net 10 goals in major European competition.
Rogers saw his penalty saved by Bologna goalkeeper Federico Ravaglia shortly afterwards, but Emi Buendía swiftly doubled the hosts’ advantage on the night courtesy of a well-taken finish.
A devastating first-half display then saw Rogers get the goal he duly deserved with a drilled finish shortly before the break.
Ezri Konsa, having registered the crucial breakthrough in Italy seven days ago, then found the net in the 89th minute to see off the Rossoblu in style and book in-form Villa’s place in the final four.
It is only the club’s third-ever appearance in the semi-finals of a major European competition, with two having come under Unai Emery in the last three seasons.
Emery’s side, who have won 11 of their 12 Europa League matches this season, will now face fellow English outfit Nottingham Forest for a place in the final.
Buendía, Konsa and Emi Martínez returned to Villa’s starting XI as manager Emery made three changes from last Sunday’s Premier League draw at The City Ground.
On another special European night at Villa Park, the two sides emerged to flames, fireworks and pyrotechnics, while a memorable tifo was once more proudly displayed in front of the Holte End.
And it was Villa who opened the scoring with a landmark goal.
Neat interchange in the build-up between Buendía and Rogers saw the latter square the ball across goal for Watkins to convert from close range – registering a century of goals in claret and blue.
Aston Villa v Bologna
Aston Villa v Bologna
The hosts were handed an opportunity to double their advantage on the night when, following a VAR review, Martin Vitik was penalised for handball from Lucas Digne’s left-wing cross, yet Rogers saw his spot-kick agonisingly turned away by Ravaglia.
Nevertheless, from the subsequent throw-in, Digne found Buendía in the area, he skipped past Nikola Moro and found the net at the neat post to make it 2-0.
Aston Villa v Bologna
Aston Villa v Bologna
And it was not long before Villa firmly put the tie beyond doubt with a third goal to make it 6-1 on aggregate.
Watkins found McGinn in a central position, he fed the ball out to Rogers, who beat his marker before drilling past Ravaglia at his near post to get the goal he warranted.
Aston Villa v Bologna
Aston Villa v Bologna
Villa continued to shut out their Italian opponents at the start of the second half, Emery introducing Tammy Abraham and Leon Bailey soon after the hour mark.
Douglas Luiz, Jadon Sancho and Lamare Bogarde were next to step off the bench as the Villans remained in control of the tie, in what was the third meeting between the clubs in B6 in the last 18 months.
And Villa continued a professional second-half display before Konsa added a fourth on the turn late on from Luiz’s flicked corner.
Emery’s charges duly kept a clean sheet, extended their unbeaten run to five matches, registered a fifth win in seven and booked their place in the semi-finals of the Europa League.
Aston Villa v Bologna
Aston Villa v Bologna