Aston Villa played overwhelmingly to beat Freiburg 3-0 in the final in Istanbul. This is Aston Villa's second European title in 44 years. For Emery, this is the 5th Europa League title he has won in his coaching career. Before that, he helped Sevilla win 3 consecutive times from 2014 to 2016, then with Villarreal in 2021.
He is on par with legendary Italian coaches Giovanni Trapattoni and Carlo Ancelotti, as well as Portuguese strategist Jose Mourinho in terms of the number of times he has won major European finals, with 5 championships.
I am always grateful to Europe, grateful to every tournament, Conference League, Champions League, Europa League but especially Europa League. We fought strongly in this tournament and tried our best. We have played very seriously this year," Unai Emery said.
In 2019, Aston Villa also played in the English lower league. Although it is the most traditional team in English football, few people dared to believe that Aston Villa would win the championship in Europe when the team appointed Emery as head coach in 2022. At that time, the Villa Park home team was only one place above the relegation zone and was at risk of relegation again.
The transformation that Unai Emery has made with Aston Villa is very incredible when he brought the team to the Champions League last season and won the right to participate in the top European club tournament next season.
With Unai Emery leading, anything can happen. The result of tonight's match is all we've built, the solidarity and pride I felt when the score was 3-0, there were only 10 minutes left until the end of the match, thinking that we had become European champions is something I can't describe. This is the proudest moment and night in my career to date," captain John McGinn said.
Since Emery took over Aston Villa, only Real Madrid has won more (30 wins in 47 matches) in UEFA club-level tournaments compared to Aston Villa (29 wins in 41 matches).
This is Villa's first major title since winning the English League Cup in 1996 and the first continental title since raising the Champions League and European Super Cup in 1982.
Usually in championship matches, he is a little worried because it is clear that he wants us to win, but today he is really calm and I think that has created momentum for us," striker Ollie Watkins said.
To date, Unai Emery has won titles with clubs in three different countries, including the French championship with Paris Saint-Germain.
