Forest hosts Villa in all-English Europa League semifinal and Freiburg is at Braga

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Aston Villa's Ollie Watkins, second left, and John McGinn, second right, attend a training session in Birmingham, England, Wednesday April 29, 2026. (Nick Potts/PA via AP)

Nottingham Forest manager Vitor Pereira attends a press conference in Nottingham, England, Wednesday April 29, 2026, a day ahead of the Europa League semifinal between Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa. (Mike Egerton/PA via AP) — Aston Villa's Ollie Watkins, second left, and John McGinn, second right, attend a training session in Birmingham, England, Wednesday April 29, 2026. (Nick Potts/PA via AP)

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3:24 AM on Thursday, April 30

The Associated Press

NOTTINGHAM, England (AP) — Nottingham Forest hosts Aston Villa in the first leg of an all-English Europa League semifinal on Thursday with both clubs trying to revive former European glory.

Forest has returned to Europe after 30 years and the relegation-threatened club eliminated Porto to reach its fourth semifinal, but first since the 1984 UEFA Cup.

That was after Nottingham dominated the European Cup, the predecessor of the Champions League, and won the trophy in 1979 and 1980.

Villa became the European champion only two years later. Villa has reached its second European semifinal in three seasons after a 7-1 aggregate victory over Bologna.

Villa made the last four two years ago in the third-tier Conference League. It sits fifth in the Premier League and stands a good chance of qualifying for the Champions League again after advancing to the quarterfinals last season.

Ahead of their clash at the City Ground, the English clubs faced each other twice in the Premier League: Villa won 3-1 at home in January, and they drew 1-1 in Nottingham this month.

English clubs have met in the final twice but this is the first all-English semifinal since 1973 when Liverpool eliminated Tottenham in the UEFA Cup, the previous version of the Europa League.

In the other semifinal, the Bundesliga’s Freiburg takes its best European campaign to Braga. The Portuguese side hopes to advance to the final again after it lost to domestic rival Porto 1-0 in 2011.

The second legs are next Thursday and the final is in Istanbul on May 20.

In the Conference League, Crystal Palace travels to Krakow in Poland, a temporary exile for Ukraine’s Shakhtar Donetsk due to the Russian invasion, and Rayo Vallecano faces Strasbourg in Madrid.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer