Watkins reaches 100-goal milestone, Aston Villa comfortably advances to Europa League semi-finals

(Football result) - Aston Villa convincingly progressed to the UEFA Europa League semi-finals after defeating Bologna with an aggregate score of 7-1, with the 4-0 victory in the second leg also marking their ninth consecutive home win in European cup competitions.

Although Bologna started quite actively, an early opportunity came for Federico Bernardeschi but he couldn't beat goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez. Jonathan Rowe also proved dangerous on the left flank, but Aston Villa quickly demonstrated their efficiency.

From a central combination, Emiliano Buendía threaded a pass for Morgan Rogers before the latter assisted Ollie Watkins to easily tap in a goal, thereby reaching the 100-goal milestone for the club and becoming the first Villa player to score 10 goals in European competitions.

Immediately after, Rogers continued to threaten Bologna's goal but was denied by goalkeeper Federico Ravaglia. In the 25th minute, Ravaglia shone again by saving Watkins' penalty kick after Martin Vitík's handball incident in the box. However, Villa didn't take long to double their lead when Buendía cleverly finished from Lucas Digne's throw-in with a shot into the near corner.

In the 39th minute, Rogers ended his 12-match goal drought with a powerful strike, raising the score to 3-0 and almost deciding the outcome. In the second half, despite Bologna making personnel adjustments, Aston Villa completely controlled the game. The home team didn't need to push too high but still added a fourth goal thanks to Ezri Konsa's beautiful volley.

This victory helped Aston Villa keep a clean sheet for 6 consecutive home matches against Italian teams in European competitions. Meanwhile, Bologna continued their losing streak away from home against English representatives, suffering their sixth consecutive defeat, including three times against Aston Villa itself.