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Matty Cash – sporting a lovely tracksuit top with delicious 1982 Villa roundel – speaks to TNT Sports. “Really loud … full of Villans everywhere … really excited … I’m sure they’ll be really loud all night … such a fantastic club … finally got itself back in European football … we’ve got a great opportunity to give the fans what they deserve, a trophy back to Villa Park … we know what a big test it is … we’re playing a really competitive team … we believe in [Unai Emery] … we watched one video today and one last night … it was an hour and a half, though!”
This is a huge match for Aston Villa all right … but for SC Freiburg, this represents the biggest occasion in the club’s entire 121-year history. Freiburg have never won a major trophy – runners-up in the 2022 German cup final is as close as they’ve come – so simply getting here is a huge achievement for Julian Schuster and his team. Andy Brassell runs the rule over the folk in Aston Villa’s way.
Unai Emery is hoping to make it five wins from six Europa League final appearances tonight. Here’s his story so far.
Q: Do you have time to kill before kick-off?
A: Yes.
Preamble
Aston Villa have won two European trophies in their history. And no we’re not counting the Intertoto Cup. Dignity, my friends, dignity. The first, and quite obviously the most special, is the 1982 European Cup, inspired by Ron Saunders but actually won by Tony Barton and Peter Withe. You can relive, rediscover or just read about that with David Lacey’s match report …
… and Ben Fisher’s nostalgic chat with the players.
A glorious victory that will never get old. Though is it as downright hilarious as their dismantling in the Super Cup the following year of Barcelona, who in the 1980s were a rugged shower of galoots and hoodlums?
No of course it’s not. Glory days. But it’s long past the time Villa had another major European victory to celebrate. Can they turn Istanbul into Astonbul? They’re favourites to beat Freiburg tonight, and it doesn’t harm that their boss, Unai Emery, is also the guvnor of the Europa League, having won it four times already for Sevilla and Villarreal. Can John McGinn join Dennis Mortimer and Ken McNaught in hoisting some continental silver for the Villa? We’ll find out soon enough. Kick-off at Beşiktaş Stadyumu is at 8pm BST. It’s on!
