Aston Villa ended 30 years of hurt in brilliant fashion as Unai Emery’s side ran riot against German outfit Freiburg to win the Europa League in style
Aston Villa have crowned their brilliant season by following up confirming Champions League football with the club’s second European trophy and their first silverware in 30 years.
Unai Emery’s side have etched their name in the club’s history books alongside the 1982 European Cup winning team after beating Bundesliga outfit Freiburg 3-0 in the final in Istanbul – their first major silverware since since thrashing Leeds 3-0 in the 1996 League Cup final. Two excellently taken first-half goals from Youri Tielemans and Emi Buendia put Villa on their way in style.
Freiburg started the final brightly but Villa’s direct style of play towards Ollie Watkins forced the game to stretch and open up opportunities for the Premier League side. One such attack drew a corner where Emery and Villa’s genius set-piece supremo Austin McPhee earned their money again.
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A short corner was played to Morgan Rogers who set up to swing a cross under the crossbar as Villa’s target men made a run towards the goalkeeper. However, the England World Cup hopeful clipped the ball to the edge of the box where Tielemans was unmarked.
The Belgian has an eye for a speculator goal on the big stage and he produced a strike worth mentioning in the same conversation as his worldie to win the FA Cup for Leicester against Chelsea by catching the ball flush on the volley.
Tielemans’ strike fired into the bottom corner to send the Villa players and fans, including Prince William, into wild celebrations just five minutes before the break.
Villa then capped off the perfect opening 45 when Buendia produced another brilliant effort with the final kick of the first half. Taking the ball on his back foot by John McGinn’s pass and opening up the angle on his left foot, Buendia whipped an effort into the far top corner.
Speaking on commentary, Ally McCoist said: “I don’t think I’ve had a better view of a top level goal in my life than what I’ve just seen.
“We’re right behind it, we know exactly what he wants to do, and he executes it with perfection. It starts at least a yard outside the post and curls beautifully.
“I thought Tielemans’ execution was beautiful – that’s certainly on a par, if not better.”
Villa’s late blitz at the end of the first half looked to have put them on the verge of history, but their name was all but on the trophy in the 57th minute when Rogers got himself in on the act.
The 23-year-old slid in at the near post to score his 17th goal of the season as he turned Buendia’s cross past Noah Atubolu in the Freiburg goal.
Villa’s dominance even allowed them to bring on Jadon Sancho without fear of throwing the game away, as he played in his third consecutive European final, for a different club, in a different competition.
The Manchester United loanee played for Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid and scored for Chelsea in their Conference League rout before making a late cameo in Istanbul.
Emery has now lifted his fifth Europa League trophy in his sixth final, after picking up three as Sevilla boss, and his most recent before tonight with Villarreal – all teams with ‘Villa’ in their name.