Aston Villa (0) vs Nottm Forest (1) - EL SF 2nd leg pre match

[Olneythelonely]

First time Martinez puts his foot on the ball the crowd should let him know that aint on tonight.

Anyone that does that is an idiot.

[RamboandBruno]

Right finished work. Too nervous to be back on here now before k/o.

Hope its a massive one for us all. UTV

[TaxDodger]

It's fine, we'll probably still get in the Champions League. That's massive for us. Istanbul isn't a great place for a European final and I've already seen Villa play there this season. Emery isn't going to Real Madrid. The squad will be a lot better next season. In a few years we'll look back on losing a Europa League Semi Final and laugh at why we took such a meaningless competition so seriously.

Just mentally preparing myself for the disappointment.

[Luffbralion]

The first semi final I ever went to was back in 1970. Third division Villa v Manchester United (the team of Best, Charlton and Law, who had won the European Cup two years earlier). The first leg ended 1-1 at OT.
For the return, nearly 60000 turned up at Villa Park. Kidd gave United the lead, only for Andy Lochhead to claim the equaliser. In the second half Pat McMahon scored the second. The noise from Villa Park must have been heard right up to Manchester and down to Wembley. I have never known an atmosphere quite as good as that night. Let's recreate that tonight.
Let's believe, roar the Villa on and get through to the final.

[Tuscans]

[eamonn]

An expectant, festooned, calm Villa Park. Wouldn't it be a great place to die or fall in love again?

[PeterWithesShin]

Flag wankers.

[Percy McCarthy]

I cannot go 30 seconds without thinking about this game.

Same Ads. I've had a knot in my stomach all day. Its finance month end at work and I'm really struggling to concentrate.

I cannot go 30 seconds without thinking about this game.

Yep. Last Thursday was stressful enough. I keep wavering from a steady performance with enough control to nick it to a nightmare of forest scoring a few on the counter attack.

Its awful. I have no idea what I'll feel like if we don't go through. I want this so badly it's impossible to articulate.

I am wavering between being 2 down dead early and huffing and puffing, but then I've read the "bring a scarf" rallying cry and I can hear the noise of Villa Park and it fills my cup again.

I was thinking today that I should be excited and looking forward to this. We’ve dreamed of competing in Europe like this. The reality is like you I’m too desperate for us to get through to enjoy any of this.

I was listening to the Proper Villans podcast the other day, and the guy summed up my feelings perfectly when he said it was a totally alien concept to him that anyone is mad enough to actually enjoy this pastime.

[bilsim]

I'm actually kind of fascinated by how we approach this because Emery's "handbrake ball" will very obviously not work and we need to "get into 'em" or at the very least, not spend 75 passing between defenders.

[Percy McCarthy]

Never felt so nervous about a game in my life.

Feel like I'd like to just go to back to bed and wake up in about 22 hours time rather than deal with the stress of today.

I tried to sleep through the Fulham game on purpose after being at work all night Friday. My internal panic button woke me up on about 70 minutes and I was both gutted and knackered all day Saturday.

[PeterWithesShin]

You know it's a proper European tie when you see a bunch of away fans in town and can't understand a word they're saying.

[Percy McCarthy]

Happy to be corrected, but didn’t Lindelof play there once earlier in the season?  I don’t recall which game, and maybe he came on as a sub, but he did well. More confidence than Bogarde, who often looks panicked.

He came on and played there v Arsenal at home.

[Percy McCarthy]

It's fine, we'll probably still get in the Champions League. That's massive for us. Istanbul isn't a great place for a European final and I've already seen Villa play there this season. Emery isn't going to Real Madrid. The squad will be a lot better next season. In a few years we'll look back on losing a Europa League Semi Final and laugh at why we took such a meaningless competition so seriously.

Just mentally preparing myself for the disappointment.

Yep, that’s what I’m thinking. I’ll be more pissed off if we blow CL qualification.

[N'ZMAV]

Never felt so nervous about a game in my life.

Feel like I'd like to just go to back to bed and wake up in about 22 hours time rather than deal with the stress of today.

I've done this a few times in the past - last time was v WBA in the play-offs second leg.

[N'ZMAV]

First time Martinez puts his foot on the ball the crowd should let him know that aint on tonight.

Anyone that does that is an idiot.

let's be honest, there will be plenty there tonight.