Aston Villa cruised into the semi-finals of the Europa League as they eased past Bologna 4-0 to complete an 7-1 aggregate triumph in the last eight.

Villa lined up for their home leg in a commanding position following their 3-1 triumph in Italy, secured by a double from Ollie Watkins. 

It was Watkins who essentially put the tie beyond doubt in the 16th minute with his 100th Villa goal.

Morgan Rogers then saw a penalty saved, but Emi Buendia made the aggregate scoreline even more emphatic 44 seconds later, before Rogers atoned for his miss.

Ezri Konsa added a late fourth for Villa, who will face Premier League rivals Nottingham Forest in the last four.

Aston Villa through to last four

Bologna had made a relatively bright start, but their hopes were essentially extinguished when Rogers’ low cross was turned home by Watkins.

Rogers then saw a curling effort kept out by Federico Ravaglia, before the goalkeeper denied the same man from 12 yards after Martin Vitik was penalised for handball following a VAR review. 

But Bologna switched off from the resulting throw-in and Buendia took advantage as he latched onto Lucas Digne’s throw and snuck a near-post effort under Ravaglia.

Further gloss was added to the aggregate scoreline as Rogers ended his 11-game goal drought, repeating the trick of Buendia in beating Ravaglia at his near post.

Bologna were improved in the second half but their efforts were without reward, and Konsa fired home on the turn from a corner to add the finishing touches to a superb night for Villa.