{"id":32075,"date":"2026-04-30T08:34:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T08:34:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/30\/forest-host-villa-and-freiburg-face-braga-in-the-all-england-europa-league-semi-final\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T08:34:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T08:34:34","slug":"forest-host-villa-and-freiburg-face-braga-in-the-all-england-europa-league-semi-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/30\/forest-host-villa-and-freiburg-face-braga-in-the-all-england-europa-league-semi-final\/","title":{"rendered":"Forest host Villa and Freiburg face Braga in the All England Europa League semi-final"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>NOTTINGHAM, England (AP) &#8211; Nottingham Forest host Aston Villa on Thursday in the first leg of an all-England Europa League semi-final as both clubs aim to return to their former European glory.<\/p>\n<p>Forest returned to Europe for the first time in 30 years and defeated relegation-threatened Porto to reach their fourth semi-final and the first since the 1984 UEFA Cup.<\/p>\n<p>It was after Nottingham won the European Cup, the predecessor to the Champions League, winning the trophy in 1979 and 1980.<\/p>\n<p>Villa became European champions just two years later. Villa defeated Bologna 7-1 on aggregate to reach their second European semi-final in three seasons.<\/p>\n<p>Villa reached the last four of the Third Division Conference League two years ago. They sit fifth in the Premier League and have a good chance of qualifying for the Champions League again after reaching the quarter-finals last season.<\/p>\n<p>Prior to the clash at the City Ground, the two English clubs met twice in the Premier League, with Villa winning 3-1 at home in January and drawing 1-1 at Nottingham this month.<\/p>\n<p>English clubs have met each other in the final twice, but this will be the first all-England semi-final since 1973, when Liverpool eliminated Tottenham in the UEFA Cup, the precursor to the Europa League.<\/p>\n<p>In the other semi-final, Bundesliga side Freiburg will take on Europe&#8217;s best team against Braga. The Portuguese side are aiming to reach the final again after losing 1-0 to domestic rivals Porto in 2011.<\/p>\n<p>The second leg will be played next Thursday and the final will be held in Istanbul on May 20th.<\/p>\n<p>In the Conference League, Crystal Palace will travel from Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine to Krakow in Poland, where they have been temporarily exiled due to the Russian invasion, while Rayo Vallecano will face Strasbourg in Madrid.<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>AP Soccer: <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/soccer<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/europa-league-villa-nottingham-freiburg-braga-971d9cf1996dbe6f5178a0d67afeac54\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NOTTINGHAM, England (AP) &#8211; Nottingham Forest host Aston Villa on Thursday in the first leg of an all-England Europa League semi-final as both clubs aim to return to their former European glory. Forest returned to Europe for the first time in 30 years and defeated relegation-threatened Porto to reach their fourth semi-final and the first<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32076,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-32075","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Forest host Villa and Freiburg face Braga in the All England Europa League semi-final - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/30\/forest-host-villa-and-freiburg-face-braga-in-the-all-england-europa-league-semi-final\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Forest host Villa and Freiburg face Braga in the All England Europa League semi-final - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"NOTTINGHAM, England (AP) &#8211; Nottingham Forest host Aston Villa on Thursday in the first leg of an all-England Europa League semi-final as both clubs aim to return to their former European glory. Forest returned to Europe for the first time in 30 years and defeated relegation-threatened Porto to reach their fourth semi-final and the first\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/30\/forest-host-villa-and-freiburg-face-braga-in-the-all-england-europa-league-semi-final\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-30T08:34:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin_ok9yktt6\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin_ok9yktt6\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/30\/forest-host-villa-and-freiburg-face-braga-in-the-all-england-europa-league-semi-final\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/30\/forest-host-villa-and-freiburg-face-braga-in-the-all-england-europa-league-semi-final\/\",\"name\":\"Forest host Villa and Freiburg face Braga in the All England Europa League semi-final - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/30\/forest-host-villa-and-freiburg-face-braga-in-the-all-england-europa-league-semi-final\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/30\/forest-host-villa-and-freiburg-face-braga-in-the-all-england-europa-league-semi-final\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2Fa92Fe02F04f5d7ca58465412450438fd00ee2F292fb7684bb24340a6c7dd1994de15b5.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-30T08:34:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2ade58a96ab056f743f12490573ae9\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/30\/forest-host-villa-and-freiburg-face-braga-in-the-all-england-europa-league-semi-final\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/30\/forest-host-villa-and-freiburg-face-braga-in-the-all-england-europa-league-semi-final\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/30\/forest-host-villa-and-freiburg-face-braga-in-the-all-england-europa-league-semi-final\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2Fa92Fe02F04f5d7ca58465412450438fd00ee2F292fb7684bb24340a6c7dd1994de15b5.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2Fa92Fe02F04f5d7ca58465412450438fd00ee2F292fb7684bb24340a6c7dd1994de15b5.jpeg\",\"width\":980,\"height\":653},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/30\/forest-host-villa-and-freiburg-face-braga-in-the-all-england-europa-league-semi-final\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Forest host Villa and Freiburg face Braga in the All England Europa League semi-final\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/\",\"name\":\"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\",\"description\":\"EPL VIP is your ultimate source for all things related to the English Premier League. 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