CHENNAI: Death, taxes and Unai Emery winning the Europa League are three certainties of life, as the Spaniard led Aston Villa to a 3-0 win over Freiburg on Thursday.
Once the most trolled person in England for his ‘Good Ebening’, Emery has transformed the Villains into a well-oiled unit, with his side dominating the German opposition in a one-sided finale. What makes this entire evening ironic is that the king of Europa League showed his grandiose in front of the future king of England.
Prince William, who has been a lifelong Villa fan, not just travelled across countries to be present in Istanbul but was also seen celebrating wildly from his seat like he was a toddler. William then even went on to take his phone out, like every other fan, to capture the moment when club skipper John McGinn lifted the club’s first trophy in 30 years.
The 30-year gap certainly makes Emery’s latest European domination already a top-notch story but what underlines greatness is how he’s transformed the club’s status from a relegation-threatened Premier League club to consistently now fighting for a European spot.
“Next year we will play in Champions League and this is the challenge,” the Aston Villa manager said after winning the Europa League.
Emery knows it, having already won the trophy a record five times, that the biggest challenge often begins in the aftermath of winning the trophy.
“The best teams in the world are there and it will challenge us a lot. The Premier League is the most difficult league in the world. To be fighting top seven, top five, top four is something very difficult. Hopefully we can be close with teams like City and Arsenal.
The Spaniard certainly knows what he’s talking about, about building something at a club where lest someone expects, and to be aiming to scale them as tall as the dynasties like City and Arsenal means they will have to scale themselves to a level unimagined. A year ago, Emery almost did the unthinkable: beat the eventual Champions League winners Paris St Germain, playing quality football.
If that involved having someone of Marcus Rashford’s quality (albeit on loan), here he has the quality of Morgan Rogers, Youri Tielemans, and not to forget the club captain McGinn, who has stood like a pillar at every troubled hour. Not just that, he also made Rogers go from Middlesbrough to becoming one of the most consistent midfielders in English football.
“The managers been banging on to me about getting more easy goals and to get into the box. Happy I could get there and get a toe on it to score. So yeah, happy,” Rogers told TNT Sports.
“It’s hard to put into words, we’ve worked so hard for this,” the forward explained. “We knew we had one more game to give it our all and we all delivered, we came through. Great moment for the fans, great moment for the club. It will go down in history, it’s a great moment.”
McGinn, who has been at the club since 2018, insisted that the team would go far and beyond to win any tournament for their manager, Emery, who has transformed the club beyond the conceivable.
“With this manager in charge, anything’s possible,” said McGinn. “Tonight was just everything we have built, coming together, and the pride I felt at 3-0 with 10 minutes to go, thinking we’re European champions was something I can’t even describe.
“It’s the proudest moment and night of my career so far.”
The 2025-26 Premier League season changed everything for Villa, who missed out on a Champions League qualification because of their inferior goal difference to Newcastle United. Just moments after the final whistle, Rogers had put the ball into the net, a result that would have given them the European opportunity at the expense of Newcastle.
It triggered a remarkable change for the club, who now are one of the more consistent teams in the Premier League. So much so that they have even leap frogged last year’s champions, Liverpool. The Europa League isn’t the end of all for Emery or his Villa mission.
While in his own admission, Villa might not be a ‘top-seven side’ but what the Spaniard has done is certainly lift them to a level where now teams are afraid of travelling to the Villa Park, a stadium which can be daunting for the visiting sides. With his side now back in Europe’s highest competition, expect them to be even more daunting to the visitors.
“This is the first one and we are achieving and the experiences we are having is every important in how we can get better.Trophies make sense of what we are doing. We are not going to stop,” Emery added.
With yet another Europa League trophy, Emery’s work at Villa truly is beginning to blossom.