Villa walk back into a European final 44 years on, with Freiburg never having been here at all
Aston Villa walk back into a European final for the first time in 44 years on Wednesday night, and they do it at Beşiktaş Park in Istanbul against an opponent who has never been here before. Freiburg, seventh in the league phase, lifted themselves through Genk, Celta and Braga to reach a European final for the first time in their history. Kick-off is 21:00 CET; the winner takes the Europa League and a Champions League place to go with it.
Villa's last continental final was the European Cup against Bayern Munich in Rotterdam in 1982, a night that ended with a Peter Withe finish, a Tony Barton bench and a generation's worth of stories. Unai Emery has spent four years turning the modern Villa side into a Europa League side, and the symmetry of the date and the venue is not lost on the dressing room.
Emery's sixth final and what he has won
Emery walks into a record-extending sixth Europa League final as a coach. He has won four of the previous five: three with Sevilla across 2014, 2015 and 2016, then one with Villarreal in 2021. The one he lost was the 2019 final with Arsenal against Chelsea in Baku. No coach has ever stood on the touchline of this competition's final this often, and few have a tactical book on knockout football as thick as the one Emery has built around Villa over the last two seasons.
Villa arrive having won twelve and lost two of their fourteen Europa League matches this season. Ollie Watkins and captain John McGinn share the team's top-scorer mark in the competition on five goals each. Onana is the only real injury concern after a calf problem picked up in the first leg of the semi-final against Nottingham Forest; otherwise Emery has the squad he wants.
Freiburg's first European final, and how they got here
Julian Schuster's Freiburg have never won a major trophy, and until this season their European ceiling was a Europa League round of sixteen exit. They finished the league phase seventh and have not let up since, scoring three or more in four of their six knockout matches across the wins over Genk, Celta and Braga.
The semi-final against Braga should have ended their run. They lost the first leg in Portugal 2-1, Mario Dorgeles drilling in a 92nd-minute winner that looked tournament-defining. At home in the second leg, Lukas Kübler scored twice and Johan Manzambi added another to turn the tie 3-1 on the night and 4-3 on aggregate, the kind of result that does not happen to a side just along for the ride.
Freiburg also won all seven of their home Europa League fixtures this season, a record that travels reasonably well when a final is essentially a neutral venue. Yuito Suzuki is out with a broken collarbone after the Wolfsburg game earlier this month, but Patrick Osterhage is back from a knee issue and gives Schuster more midfield depth.
What is actually at stake
For Villa, this is the major piece of silverware Emery's project has been pointed at, and the route into the Champions League regardless of where the Premier League season has left them. For Freiburg, this is the chance to lift their first major trophy and reach the Champions League for the first time ever, with a Bundesliga seventh-place finish suddenly carrying European weight it was never meant to.
The two highest-scoring teams in this season's Europa League meet in the final. One has Emery; the other has the kind of run no one wrote into the bracket in September. Beşiktaş Park gets the better story either way.
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