John McGinn's late double added to Emi Buendia's penalty and Ollie Watkins' opener to complete Villa's comeback against Nottingham Forest after last week's 1-0 first-leg defeat. The hosts booked a final against Bundesliga side Freiburg, who beat Braga 4-3 on aggregate, in Istanbul on 20 May. Villa head coach Unai Emery is chasing his fifth Europa League title, having joined the club as a serial winner of this competition. His team will be looking to lift Villa's first major silverware since the 1996 League Cup, and with it book a Champions League spot. They are still fifth in the Premier League and if they finish there and win the Europa League, the team in sixth - currently Bournemouth - will also qualify for the Champions League. This was a deserved victory for the hosts, in front of fan Prince William, with Forest rarely threatening without Morgan Gibbs-White. The playmaker was only fit enough for the bench following a head injury which required extensive stitches in Monday's win at Chelsea. It took Villa until seven minutes before the break to level on aggregate when Watkins turned in Buendia's centre from the left. They went ahead overall 13 minutes after the break when referee Glenn Nyberg awarded a penalty after reviewing the monitor following a VAR check when Nikola Milenkovic tugged Pau Torres. Watkins had a goal disallowed for offside, while Emi Martinez denied Chris Wood at the other end, before McGinn 's quickfire two goals wrapped up victory.

The Eagles led 3-1 after the first leg a week ago in Poland, and thought they had stretched their advantage when Yeremy Pino raced through and slotted a calm finish into the net. However, the winger was ruled offside following an extremely tight offside decision when he collected Jean-Philippe Mateta's flick-on. But, at a raucous Selhurst Park for the second-leg tie, Palace took the lead in the 25th minute. Adam Wharton's powerful 25-yard strike was pushed away by goalkeeper Dmytro Riznyk, but it dropped for Daniel Munoz, whose low cross from a tight angle was steered into his own net by Pedro Henrique. Shakhtar battled back to make it 1-1 on the night when Eguinaldo collected a Pedro Henrique pass and curled a fine effort into the top corner. Mateta then went close to restoring Palace's three-goal overall advantage just before half-time, only to hit the post with a spectacular scissor-kick. But Ismaila Sarr sealed his side's 5-2 aggregate success when he stretched to slide the ball into the net from Tyrick Mitchell's low left-wing cross. It was his ninth goal in the competition to make him the outright top scorer this term. Palace will face Rayo Vallecano in the final on Wednesday, 27 May in Leipzig, Germany, after the Spanish side defeated French outfit Strasbourg - managed by Gary O'Neil - 2-0 on aggregate in the other semi-final.

Leading 2-1 from the first leg, the visitors were reduced to 10 men when Mario Dorgeles – scorer of Braga's last-gasp winner in Portugal – was shown a straight red card for a professional foul on Jan-Niklas Beste. Freiburg soon made their numerical advantage count, taking the lead on the night when Jean-Baptiste Gorby's attempted clearance rebounded off Lukas Kubler's knee before trickling over the line via the inside of the far post. The opening goal may have been slightly fortuitous, but there was nothing lucky about Yohan Manzambi's stunning second four minutes before half-time. The 20-year-old midfielder worked space for a shot on the edge of the penalty area before curling an unstoppable right-footed drive into the far corner, sparking jubilant scenes among the home supporters at the Europa-Park Stadion. Victor Gomez struck the woodwork after rounding Freiburg goalkeeper Noah Atubolu late in the first half, before Vincenzo Grifo was denied by the same post with a low drive early in the second. Braga keeper Lukas Hornicek made a sensational double save to deny Igor Matanovic and Matthias Ginter with 20 minutes remaining, but the 23-year-old was powerless to prevent Kubler from extending Freiburg's lead with a towering header. Pau Victor's close-range header gave the visitors hope seven minutes later, but there was to be no way back for Carlos Vicens' side. Julian Schuster's side will face Aston Villa in the final in Istanbul on Wednesday, 20 May (20:00 BST) after Unai Emery's side thrashed Nottingham Forest 4-0 in the second leg of their last-four encounter at Villa Park. Thursday's victory was Freiburg's 11th home win in succession in the Europa League, equalling Sevilla's all-time record set between April 2014 and March 2016.

The La Liga side repeated the 1-0 victory from the first leg on home soil to book a place in a European final for the first time with Brazilian forward Alemao again the scorer. After finding the back of the net seven days ago, Alemao doubled Vallecano's aggregate lead in the 42nd minute with his fifth goal in the competition – an opportunistic strike from eight yards when the ball was parried back into his path. When the half-time whistle blew at the Stade de la Meinau, there was whistles from some of the home supporters. Strasbourg responded after the break but were still limited to a half chances, with Samir El Mourabet firing over from the edge of the area. Vallecano could have extended their advantage and made sure of their place in the final 20 minutes from time but were thwarted by an impressive double save from Mike Penders. The home side had a chance to set up a nervous finish when they were awarded a stoppage time penalty, but Augusto Batalla saved Julio Enciso's effort to complete their misery. The Spanish club's meeting with Palace, 5-2 aggregate winners over Shakhtar Donetsk, is at the Leipzig Stadium on 27 May (20:00 BST).

The semi-final second leg was not a classic like the first encounter in Paris, which saw Luis Enrique's holders take a 5-4 advantage to Munich's Allianz Arena. Harry Kane scored his 55th goal of the season for Bayern deep into stoppage time, but it could not provide any consolation on a night of bitter disappointment for Vincent Kompany's side. It was almost impossible to repeat the stunning standards of the first leg, but this was still a game of high quality and opportunities. And PSG took their first chance after only three minutes when Georgian genius Khvicha Kvaratskhelia's brilliant run and cross set up Ousmane Dembele for a thumping finish. In an electric atmosphere, Bayern tried to force their way back into the tie, but Kane was mostly kept at arm's length and the hosts were frustrated. Bayern were convinced they should have had a first-half penalty when Vitinha rifled a clearance against Joao Neves' arm inside the box, but the laws state a spot-kick cannot be given if the ball has been played by a team-mate. PSG created the better opportunities after the break, with Desire Doue coming close on several occasions, but Bayern keeper Manuel Neuer formed a formidable barrier. Bayern pressed tirelessly, with Kane striking superbly late on, but could not recover the deficit and PSG will now meet Arsenal in Budapest on Saturday, 30 May.