{"id":1684,"date":"2026-05-21T13:45:41","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T05:45:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/?p=1684"},"modified":"2026-05-21T13:45:43","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T05:45:43","slug":"emery-urges-villa-to-use-europa-triumph-to-fuel-bold-new-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/21\/emery-urges-villa-to-use-europa-triumph-to-fuel-bold-new-era\/","title":{"rendered":"Emery urges Villa to use Europa triumph to fuel bold new era"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Unai Emery urged Aston Villa to use their historic Europa League final triumph against Freiburg as the foundation for an “ambitious” new era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emery’s side ended the club’s 30-year trophy drought with a stylish 3-0 win in Istanbul on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spectacular<\/strong> first-half goals<\/strong> from Youri Tielemans<\/strong> and Emiliano Buendia<\/strong> put Villa<\/strong> in control<\/strong> before Morgan Rogers<\/strong> netted after the interval<\/strong> to kill off outclassed Freiburg<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Villa’s first trophy<\/strong> since the 1996 League Cup<\/strong> was also their first major European prize<\/strong> in 44 years<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After long spells in the doldrums<\/strong> prior to Emery’s arrival<\/strong> to replace the sacked Steven Gerrard<\/strong> in 2022<\/strong>, Villa<\/strong> are back among the elite<\/strong> both in the Premier League<\/strong> and Europe<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They have qualified for next season’s Champions League<\/strong> and Emery<\/strong> called on his players<\/strong> and the club’s hierarchy<\/strong> to match his desire<\/strong> to keep Villa<\/strong> in contention<\/strong> for silverware<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I am myself ambitious<\/strong> and of course I need support<\/strong>. The owners<\/strong>, everyone that works in the club<\/strong>. Development<\/strong> is everything,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The players<\/strong> are following us. We are doing it together<\/strong>. But we must try to set this ambition<\/strong>, being clear and realistic<\/strong>. As a team<\/strong>, ambitious<\/strong> and improving<\/strong>. This is our next step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We are getting stronger<\/strong> but we are trying to be demanding<\/strong>. Next year we will play in Champions League<\/strong> and the Premier League<\/strong> is the most difficult<\/strong> in the world<\/strong>. This is the challenge<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emery<\/strong> has now won the Europa League<\/strong> five times<\/strong> after leading Sevilla<\/strong> to the trophy<\/strong> three times<\/strong> and clinching it once with Villarreal<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It’s fantastic<\/strong>. Europe<\/strong> gave us a lot. For myself as well. I’m always very grateful<\/strong> for Europe<\/strong>. For every competition<\/strong> but especially the Europa League<\/strong>,” the Spaniard<\/strong> said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The support<\/strong> I had with Valencia<\/strong>, with Sevilla<\/strong>, with Villarreal<\/strong> and here at Villa<\/strong>. We played it in a very serious<\/strong> way this year, so focused<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Getting this trophy<\/strong> adds experience<\/strong> for us. And those experiences<\/strong> for the players<\/strong> are important<\/strong>. Because we can play next year trying as well to be in contention<\/strong> for trophies<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘So happy and proud<\/strong>‘ –<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Villa<\/strong> last won a major continental trophy<\/strong> when they stunned Bayern Munich<\/strong> to win the 1982 European Cup<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Emery<\/strong>, following in the footsteps<\/strong> of Tony Barton<\/strong> as Villa’s second manager<\/strong> to land a major European trophy<\/strong>, emphasised how far they have come since he arrived in 2022<\/strong> with the club<\/strong> languishing near the Premier League relegation zone<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This final<\/strong> is confirmation<\/strong> of how we are progressing<\/strong>. It is very important<\/strong>,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Of course my dream<\/strong> was to play in Europe<\/strong> and play to win trophies<\/strong>. We played the Conference League semi-final<\/strong> and Champions League quarter-finals<\/strong>. We were very close<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This club<\/strong> won the European title<\/strong> in 1982<\/strong>. And again competing for a title in Europe<\/strong> is something which makes sense of everything we are doing.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On an unforgettable evening<\/strong> on the banks of the Bosphorus<\/strong>, Emery<\/strong> and his team<\/strong> ensured they will be ranked<\/strong> alongside the 1982 heroes<\/strong> as Villa legends<\/strong> forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Emery<\/strong> has no intention of resting<\/strong> on his laurels<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We are improving<\/strong>. We are playing finals<\/strong>. We are winning trophies<\/strong>. I think the brand<\/strong> is increasing,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Achieving this makes us so happy<\/strong> and proud<\/strong>. But we are not going to stop<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Freiburg’s first European final<\/strong> proved to be an anti-climax<\/strong>, leaving the German club<\/strong> still waiting<\/strong> to win their maiden major trophy<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“At this moment<\/strong>, there is no room for satisfaction<\/strong>. We lost the final<\/strong>,” Freiburg boss Julian Schuster<\/strong> said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It is, of course, very painful<\/strong>. We believed we could win. In the first half, for the first 40 minutes<\/strong>, everything was fine<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“However, we lost control<\/strong> of the game<\/strong>, specifically due to set pieces<\/strong>. That is very tough<\/strong> to take.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unai Emery urged Aston Villa to use their historic Europa League final triumph against Freiburg as the foundation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1685,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1684"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1686,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1684\/revisions\/1686"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}