Ollie Watkins: Aston Villa will use European heartbreak as 'motivation' for Nottingham Forest clash in UEFA Europa League

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Ollie Watkins says the pain of Aston Villa’s recent UEFA Conference League semi-final loss to Olympiacos is driving their bid to reach the UEFA Europa League final.

Watkins using 'horrible' European defeat as 'motivation'

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Villa were soundly beaten 6-2 on aggregate by the Greek club in the last four of the 2023/24 season, and Watkins admits the memory still lingers as extra motivation ahead of Thursday’s first-leg clash with Premier League rivals Nottingham Forest, live on TNT Sports and HBO Max.

”I think you always want to put it right. Losing to Olympiacos was horrible,” he told TNT Sports.

”We had such high hopes in that competition, we were doing really well, playing good football, scoring a lot of goals.

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”Olympiacos punished us at home and going away to their place was always going to be tough. That atmosphere was amazing and one of the best I’ve played in. They scored an early goal and yeah, that was kind of the end of it, really.

”Those feelings, you always remember that and you want to use it as motivation to go one more.”

Watkins insists Villa must channel that experience when they head to rejuvenated Forest for the first leg.

”It is a massive game for us, especially going away in the first leg. It’s always difficult there. I can’t describe how tough it is going to be,” said Watkins.

Emery admits playing Forest in European semi-final will be 'strange'

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”They’ve picked up a bit of form recently and they’ve got a lot of good players. I think this year they have underperformed, but when it goes into a cup competition, form goes out the window.

"It’s about desire, hunger and pulling together as a team, and I think we need to make sure we’re on it and be prepared for what they are going to throw at us.”

It is seven years since Villa recorded a victory at the City Ground - coming when both teams were in the second tier - and Watkins is aware how difficult the first leg will be for his side.

”We know our away form hasn’t been amazing as of late - this season - and going to Forest is definitely tough,” he added. ”I don’t think we’ve won there for a while. We’ve definitely not won since I’ve been at Villa.”

However, under Unai Emery - who is chasing a remarkable fifth Europa League trophy - Watkins believes the team are well-equipped to handle the occasion.

”He is always consistent,” he said. ”When we’re winning, he is probably even more demanding of us. I think his record speaks for itself.

”As a manager who has won a lot of things… I haven’t won or experienced anything like that before, so I just try to soak up the information, trust the process and trust what he says because he is the man who has done it at the end of the day.”

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Emery: Villa must learn from near-misses

Head coach Emery, meanwhile, stressed the importance of learning from recent near-misses.

Villa were defeated UEFA Champions League quarter-finalists last season when they suffered a narrow 5-4 aggregate loss to eventual winners Paris Saint-Germain.

A semi-final exit to Crystal Palace in the FA Cup last term is also fresh in the memory.

"We will try to learn from those experiences. It is the most important thing. We played in the Conference League semi-final and we lost, and we deserved to lose," said Emery.

"We played the quarter-final last year in the Champions League and we lost. We competed and we enjoyed, and at the last moment we lost.

"We played in the semi-final of the FA Cup last year and it is different, it is one match only, in London. It is a high experience for us.

"We are going to add a new experience, and everything that went before was fantastic. But now it is a new competition, a new momentum, a new semi-final, but a different team, and different players we have as well."

Emery says facing familiar opposition brings a different dynamic on the European stage. The two teams played out a 1-1 draw in the Premier League earlier in April.

"It is strange," he added. "We played against them three weeks ago, but this is Europe. They know us and we know them.

"We will try to use our experiences, our momentum, our players, our tactical ideas, our mentality, our balance."

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