In front of heir to the king of England on Wednesday, Unai Emery reaffirmed his status as the king of the UEFA Europa League as Aston Villa beat SC Freiburg 3-0 in Istanbul, Turkey, to secure him a record-extending fifth title in the competition.
Celebrating wildly inside the Tupras Stadium was lifelong Villa fan Prince William, who traveled to watch his beloved team end a 30-year wait for a major trophy.
“Amazing night!! Huge congratulations to all the players, team, staff and everyone connected to the club!” Prince William wrote on X.
Photo: AP
He had his phone out taking photographs as captain John McGinn lifted the cup in the center of the field and in front of an explosion of confetti.
“He’s a classy guy. He was in the dressing room before the game and he’s a massive Villa fan so he was never going to miss it,” McGinn told TNT Sports, referring to the prince.
It was Villa’s first major piece of silverware since winning the English League Cup in 1996 and their first continental title since lifting the European Cup and the Super Cup in 1982.
Photo: AP
Was the outcome ever in doubt with the ultimate Europa League specialist Emery on the sideline?
The Spanish coach has enjoyed remarkable success in Europe’s second-tier competition, winning it three years running with Sevilla from 2014 to 2016 and again with Villarreal in 2021.
Now he has led a third team with “Villa” in their name to the title.
“I am always very grateful for Europe, for every competition, Conference League, Champions League, Europa League, but especially Europa League,” Emery said. “We fought strongly in this competition and tried to give it our best. We played in a very serious way this year.”
Two brilliant first-half strikes from Youri Tielemans and Emiliano Buendia put Villa into a 2-0 lead at the break. Morgan Rogers added a third in the second half.
German team Freiburg, who were playing in the second division 10 years ago, were outclassed in their first European final.
Villa were in England’s second tier even more recently, in 2019. And while they were the overwhelming favorites going into Wednesday’s match, occasions like this looked a long way off when Emery was hired in 2022.
Back then, Villa was one place above the relegation zone and in danger of going down again.
The transformation he has overseen has been remarkable — leading the team into the UEFA Champions League last season and qualifying for European club soccer’s top competition again next term.
“With this manager in charge, anything’s possible,” said McGinn, a Scotland international. “Tonight was just everything we have built, coming together, and the pride I felt at 3-0 with 10 minutes to go, thinking we’re European champions was something I can’t even describe. It’s the proudest moment and night of my career so far.”
“We had a great season and to top it off with this is amazing,” Tielemans said.
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