The Europa League final gives Unai Emery the chance to extend a remarkable record in the competition

Europa League specialist Unai Emery aims to win the trophy for the fifth time and with a third different team, extending the record.

His Aston Villa team will face Freiburg later on Wednesday in Istanbul, where he can further improve his remarkable record in the competition.

After winning Europe’s secondary trophy three years in a row with Sevilla between 2014 and 2016, he took it again in 2021 with Villarreal.

Discover a pattern?

If his club’s fans are looking for a happy omen, this is the third team with ‘Villa’ in the name that Emery has led to the Europa League final and perhaps the third he will lead to glory.

Not that the Spaniard, who has been a serial winner during his coaching career, is taking anything for granted.

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“I am not a ‘king’ in this competition,” he said during his pre-match press conference on Tuesday. «I’m now back at Aston Villa in a new chapter. Everything I did has been done, and of course it’s there at that moment.»

«I have to win tomorrow with the players we have now, with Aston Villa now, with the opponent we face tomorrow. It’s a new way, a new moment and hopefully a new era.»

Villa, fourth in the Premier League and guaranteed to qualify for next season’s Champions League, are favorites to beat a Freiburg team who are seventh in the Bundesliga and played in Germany’s second division a decade ago.

This is the first European final.

“It’s very special,” said Freiburg coach Julian Schuster. «I have so much confidence in my team and they give me that confidence because there is so much quality. I’m not nervous; we have the confidence we need to play against a great team and a great coach tomorrow.»

Published on May 20, 2026