MANCHESTER - Aston Villa have one foot in the Europa League semi-finals after Thursday's hard-fought 3-1 win at Bologna, which could have had a very different complexion had it not been for the clinical Ollie Watkins.
Ezri Konsa's header on the stroke of half-time and a brace from Watkins, who is playing for a place in England's World Cup squad, kept Villa on course for a first major trophy since winning the League Cup 30 years ago.
Villa will face either Porto or fellow Premier League outfit Nottingham Forest in the last four should they see off Bologna, who are still just about in the tie thanks to Jonathan Rowe's fine late strike, in next week's second leg in Birmingham.
Bologna have won their last seven matches away from home in all competitions but Unai Emery has won the Europa League four times and his Villa team are big favourites to go through following Watkins' second just before the final whistle.
"Just before half time is a great time to score. We got the second after half time and then we felt we always were going to score more," said Watkins to TNT Sports.
"Back end of the season I'm raring to go. I could play another 90 minutes. I'm excited for the next few games. I'm hungry."
Villa have beaten Bologna three times in the last two seasons, including twice in this edition of the Europa League, and the English team were clinical in the way they beat a spirited Bologna who probably deserved more from the game but gifted their opponents all three goals.
"If we want to take that step up then we can't make these kinds of mistakes... Anything can happen (in the second leg), but tonight should teach us a lesson," said Federico Bernardeschi to Sky.