Aston Villa win Europa League with 3-0 victory over Freiburg

ISTANBUL: Aston Villa ended a 30-year wait for a trophy by beating Freiburg 3-0 in the Europa League final on Wednesday, with goals from Youri Tielemans, Emiliano Buendia and Morgan Rogers sealing the club's first major European title in 44 years.

Unai Emery's side took control of the final late in the first half. Tielemans opened the scoring in the 41st minute with a powerful volley after Rogers delivered a precise cross from a short-corner routine. Seconds before the break, Buendia doubled Villa's lead with a curling finish from the edge of the area after Freiburg failed to close him down.

Rogers added the third in the 58th minute, sliding in to convert Buendia's cross as Villa completed a dominant display against the German side, who were appearing in their first European final.

The result gave Villa their first silverware since winning the League Cup in 1996. It also marked the club's first major continental success since their European Cup triumph in 1982, when Peter Withe scored the winner against Bayern Munich in Rotterdam.

Historic night for Villa

Villa's current squad joined a select group in the club's history, with Peter Withe and Dennis Mortimer watching from the stands in Istanbul. The team wore white shirts rather than their usual claret and blue, mirroring the kit choice from the 1982 European Cup final.

The victory added another chapter to Emery's record in the competition. The Spaniard has now won the Europa League five times, having previously lifted the trophy with Sevilla in 2014, 2015 and 2016, and with Villarreal in 2021.

Earlier in the week, Emery had played down suggestions that he was the competition's dominant figure.

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Villa were backed by around 20,000 supporters at the Besiktas Stadium, where Prince William, a well-known fan of the club, was also present to celebrate the win. Actor Tom Hanks, another prominent Villa supporter, had sent the team a good luck message before kick-off.

Strong finish to the season

The Europa League title capped a notable end to the campaign for Villa, who had also secured qualification for next season's Champions League with a win over Liverpool last week.

That outcome contrasted sharply with the start of their season, when they went six matches without a win and scored only twice during that run. Their first victory of the campaign came against Bologna in the Europa League, beginning a sequence of 13 wins in 15 matches in the competition.

Villa's triumph also continued the revival under Emery, who took charge in October 2022 when the club was only three points above the relegation zone. Since then, the team has moved beyond a series of near misses, including defeat in the UEFA Conference League semi-finals in 2024 and exits in the Champions League quarter-finals and FA Cup semi-finals last year.

The win in Istanbul also helped erase memories of difficult periods in the club's modern history, including relegations in 1987 and 2016 and defeats in their previous four domestic finals before this success on the banks of the Bosphorus.