2026-04-30 08:42:53

Ollie Watkins wants Aston Villa to learn from their past European heartache in their Europa League semi-final.

Villa take on Nottingham Forest in the first leg of their all-English semi-final on Thursday (30.04.26) and the striker wants his team to atone for their defeat to Greek side Olympiacos at the same stage of the Conference League two seasons ago.

Watkins told TNT Sports: “I think you always want to put it right. Losing to Olympiacos was horrible.

“We had such high hopes in that competition, we were doing really well, playing good football, scoring a lot of goals.

“Olympiacos punished us at home and going away to their place was always going to be tough. That atmosphere was amazing and one of the best I’ve played in. They scored an early goal and yeah, that was kind of the end of it, really.

“Those feelings, you always remember that and you want to use it as motivation to go one more.”

Watkins expects Villa to be in for a tough task when they travel to Forest – who have been in strong form of late.

The England international said: “It is a massive game for us, especially going away in the first leg. It’s always difficult there. I can’t describe how tough it is going to be.

“They’ve picked up a bit of form recently and they’ve got a lot of good players. I think this year they have underperformed, but when it goes into a cup competition, form goes out the window.

“It’s about desire, hunger and pulling together as a team, and I think we need to make sure we’re on it and be prepared for what they are going to throw at us.”

However, Watkins feels that the experience of Villa boss Unai Emery – a four-time winner of the Europa League – means that the team will be well-prepared for the game.

The forward said of his boss: “He is always consistent. When we’re winning, he is probably even more demanding of us. I think his record speaks for itself.

“As a manager who has won a lot of things… I haven’t won or experienced anything like that before, so I just try to soak up the information, trust the process and trust what he says because he is the man who has done it at the end of the day.”

Visit Bang Premier (main website)