Aston Villa win Europa League: Inside Unai Emery's latest European triumph, including Emiliano Martinez's broken finger and beers with Prince William
Aston Villa have won the Europa League, ending their 44-year wait for a European trophy; Villa beat Freiburg 3-0, keeping a clean sheet despite Emiliano Martinez breaking his finger in the warm-up; Villa squad had beers with Prince William after the game - and want the Champions League
Thursday 21 May 2026 12:49, UK
It was a night that Aston Villa fans will never forget. A first trophy in 30 years, and their 1982 European conquerors have some competition.
Youri Tielemans, Emiliano Buendia and Morgan Rogers were the goalscoring heroes in Istanbul, as Villa beat Freiburg 3-0 in comfortable fashion.
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But perhaps the most heroic action of the night came from goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez - who broke his finger during the warm-ups - but still carried on to play the game, and keep a clean sheet.
"Today I broke my finger during warm-ups, but I didn't see it as a bad thing," said Martinez after the game.
"I've never broken a finger before and every time I tried to catch the ball, the finger would just slip away in the other direction.
"But, these are just things you have to go through."
Martinez was forced into two saves with his broken finger, though Freiburg only mustered an overall Expected Goals tally of 0.24. So while the Argentine was heroic in playing on while injured, he was hardly tested.
The Villa goalkeeper has, however, continued his perfect record in finals - winning all seven of the showpiece matches he has played in during the last six years for club and country.
That run comes across three different teams - Arsenal, Argentina and now Villa.
Cash: We were having beers with Prince William
Matty Cash has revealed the Villa squad were having beers with Prince William after their Europa League triumph in Istanbul.
The future King of England, an avid Villa supporter, was in attendance in Istanbul for the final - and was seen avidly celebrating the goals and the result.
"He was in there having a beer with us," said Cash. "He's just delighted. To be fair, he's such a big supporter.
"He's always coming to the training ground, always at Villa Park. And he deserves moments like these and hopefully he can let his hair down today."
McGinn: We're going for the Champions League next season
Meanwhile, Villa captain John McGinn has said Villa are targeting a Champions League triumph next season.
In head coach Unai Emery, Villa do have an expert in winning European silverware. Emery has won his fifth Europa League trophy - only Carlo Ancelotti, Jose Mourinho and Giovanni Trapattoni have each won five European competitions.
"We've been through a lot as a club," McGinn said. "We've been through a lot of pain and tonight, they [the fans] deserve it. We deserve it.
"The club's building. We're still going. We're not stopping now."
On Emery, McGinn said: "He's a genius, with what he's done for this club. For me personally, he's been absolutely first class.
"We've given him a fifth European trophy. Hopefully next year, we'll go for the Champions League. We'll see."
The desire to not stop was echoed by Emery. "My dream when I started was to play in Europe and play for trophies - this is the first one. We played in two semi-finals and were close," he said.
"Those experiences are very important to get better. The club have been missing European cups, a trophy.
"So achieving this makes us so happy, but we're not going to stop."
What next for Emery's Villa after Europa win?
Sky Sports News' Rob Jones in Istanbul:
Try as he might to make Wednesday's pre-match news conference not centred on his own impeccable Europa League record, for once Unai Emery was fighting a losing battle. "I am not the Europa League king" he stated - but after a fifth triumph in this competition his words have been comfortably dwarfed by his actions.
Emery guided Villa to a first major trophy in thirty years by beating Freiburg in Istanbul, confirming his own place in the club's history - he has been a transformative figure since replacing Steven Gerrard in October 2022.
So job done? Not a chance - that is not how Emery's mind works. After debriefing the players following their 4-2 victory over champions Liverpool last Friday, he went to re-watch the second leg of Villa's Europa League semi-final thumping of Nottingham Forest, just in case there was anything he'd missed.
But the reality is there is work to do. Emery has spent the season consistently saying there are seven stronger contenders for Champions League football than Villa, he will expect Chelsea to be much improved under Xabi Alonso, Liverpool to come again, who knows what will become of Tottenham Hotspur.
There are some things Emery himself cannot control - Villa's annual revenue is almost £200 million shy of Tottenham's, improving the North Stand will help that a little eventually, as will the Champions League, but some of the teams Villa have outperformed on the pitch in recent years still have more muscle to flex financially.
This is probably a moment in time for this Villa squad, where the key figures have barely changed in the last few years. Across the season only Fulham on average have selected an older starting eleven than them and their needs to be some regeneration.
It will be an emotional decision bidding farewell to some of the players that have taken Villa so far, but there is a business element to it too. A time comes to sell perhaps just as some are about to hit the top of the downslope in their career and recoup a decent fee rather than let them leave when their value has all but disappeared.
Villa also need to get their recruitment right, Sky Sports News understands Harry Wilson is "more likely to join Villa" than any other club on the expiration of his Fulham contract, but they can ill afford more mistakes like Evan Guessand and Harvey Elliott.
Roberto Olabe replaced Monchi as the President of Football Operations at the start of the season and this is the first real measure of his influence and eye for a player.
But Villa are something of an anomaly in modern-day football, a club largely controlled by the manager rather than those above him. But that model has finally paid dividends Emery has delivered the trophy that one of the great names of English football so desperately craved for so long.
