{"id":47440,"date":"2026-05-21T00:07:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T04:07:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2026\/05\/21\/emery-cements-europa-league-legacy-as-aston-villa-beat-freiburg-to-win-trophy\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T00:07:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T04:07:26","slug":"emery-cements-europa-league-legacy-as-aston-villa-beat-freiburg-to-win-trophy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2026\/05\/21\/emery-cements-europa-league-legacy-as-aston-villa-beat-freiburg-to-win-trophy\/","title":{"rendered":"Emery cements Europa League legacy as Aston Villa beat Freiburg to win trophy"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_74 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2026\/05\/21\/emery-cements-europa-league-legacy-as-aston-villa-beat-freiburg-to-win-trophy\/#The_phenomenal_players_of_Youri_Tielemans_and_Emiliano_Buendia_set_the_tone\" >The phenomenal players of Youri Tielemans and Emiliano Buendia set the tone<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2026\/05\/21\/emery-cements-europa-league-legacy-as-aston-villa-beat-freiburg-to-win-trophy\/#Morgan_Rogers_made_it_3-0_early_in_the_second_half\" >Morgan Rogers made it 3-0 early in the second half.<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2026\/05\/21\/emery-cements-europa-league-legacy-as-aston-villa-beat-freiburg-to-win-trophy\/#Unai_Emerys_incredible_record_in_the_Europa_League\" >Unai Emery&#8217;s incredible record in the Europa League<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<!-- Article Start --><\/p>\n<p><strong>Aston Villa secured a historic Europa League victory with an emphatic 3-0 victory over Germany&#8217;s Freiburg in Istanbul, ending their 44-year wait for a European silver medal and cementing Unai Emery&#8217;s place as the greatest manager in the history of the competition.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In a one-sided final, Villa were completely dominant, outperforming Freiburg in every department, producing one of the most impressive European finals for an English club in recent history.<\/p>\n<p>The wait was finally over for the club, whose last trophy in Europe was the 1982 European Cup.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_phenomenal_players_of_Youri_Tielemans_and_Emiliano_Buendia_set_the_tone\"><\/span>The phenomenal players of Youri Tielemans and Emiliano Buendia set the tone<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Villa broke the deadlock with a superb team goal in the 41st minute.<\/p>\n<p>A well-worked corner routine ended with a floated cross from Morgan Rodgers and a fine volley from Youri Tielemans to put Villa ahead. It was the perfect goal at the perfect time for Emery&#8217;s side.<\/p>\n<p>But Villa didn&#8217;t stop there. Late in first-half stoppage time, Emiliano Buendia produced a moment of magic, finding space on the edge of the area and firing a brilliant left-footed shot into the top corner to make it 2-0.<\/p>\n<p>The goal stunned the world watching and effectively put the game out of Freiburg&#8217;s reach before half-time.<\/p>\n<p>Freiburg, who made history by reaching the European final for the first time in their history, were shocked and did not react.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Morgan_Rogers_made_it_3-0_early_in_the_second_half\"><\/span>Morgan Rogers made it 3-0 early in the second half.<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>If there was any doubt, Morgan Rogers stopped it in the 58th minute.<\/p>\n<p>The dynamic young Englishman, who has been a standout performer for Villa all season, sent the Villa faithful into a frenzy as he coolly converted a low cross from Buendia to make it 3-0.<\/p>\n<p>The stats say it all: Villa had 16 shot attempts before Freiburg&#8217;s fourth corner, and five shot attempts before Freiburg&#8217;s first corner.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Unai_Emerys_incredible_record_in_the_Europa_League\"><\/span>Unai Emery&#8217;s incredible record in the Europa League<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Unai Emery has now won the UEFA Europa League an astonishing five times, including three with Sevilla (2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16), one with Villarreal (2020-21) and one with Aston Villa in 2025-26. No manager in history has come close to that record.<\/p>\n<p>This is the ultimate vindication for a manager who arrived at Villa Park in November 2022, took over a struggling side that sat just one point above the relegation zone, and systematically transformed them into one of Europe&#8217;s elite clubs.<\/p>\n<p>This season alone, Villa qualified for the Champions League by winning the Premier League, and added glory in the Europa League.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-(1.7)\">Emery took charge of his sixth European final on Wednesday night. He has now won five of those matches. This man is truly the king of this competition.<\/p>\n<p><!-- Article End -->\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Aston Villa secured a historic Europa League victory with an emphatic 3-0 victory over Germany&#8217;s Freiburg in Istanbul, ending their 44-year wait for a European silver medal and cementing Unai Emery&#8217;s place as the greatest manager in the history of the competition. In a one-sided final, Villa were completely dominant, outperforming Freiburg in every department, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47441,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[40],"class_list":["post-47440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}