Mikel Arteta won the Premier League with Arsenal after 22 years on Tuesday, Unai Emery gave Aston Villa their first major silverware since the League Cup in 1996 and Andoni Iraola took Bournemouth to Europe for the first time. Spanish coaches are creating waves and how!
If Arteta transformed the Gunners into a champion outfit, Emery has done the same with Aston Villa. And irony is, Emery was replaced by his compatriot at the Emirates in 2019.
The 3-0 win over Freiburg in the Europa League final at Besiktas Park in Istanbul — Youri Tielemans and Emiliano Buendia scored stunning goals with Morgan Rogers adding a third — ended Villa’s 30-year wait for a trophy and earned Emery a record-extending fifth win in the competition.
Thrice with Sevilla (2014, 2015 and 2016), once (2021) with Villarreal, and now with Villa (2026). No wonder they call him “King of Europa League”.
Villa had lifted the League Cup in 1996, and their first victory in continental competition since they were European Cup champions in 1982 after defeating Bayern Munich in the final.
The 54-year-old Spaniard joined Villa in late 2022, with the famous old Midlands club hovering perilously close to the Premier League relegation zone and fans still harking back to past glories of the 1980s and 90s.
Emery has since hauled Villa to the upper echelons of the Premier League, taken them into the Champions League — and now helped them win the Europa League.
The nature of Freiburg’s thrashing on Wednesday demonstrated all that is best about Emery’s Villa: tactical nous, defensive resilience and oodles of skill and finishing power up front.
“This final is the confirmation about how we are progressing,” Emery told TNT. “Europe gave us a lot.”
As the goals went in, Villa’s players were serenaded by hordes of delirious supporters who had travelled from Birmingham to Istanbul. Among them was Villa’s most famous fan, Prince William, who celebrated the victory ecstatically.
“Amazing night!! Huge congratulations to all the players, team, staff and everyone connected to the club! 44 years since the last taste of European silverware!” he said on X.
“With this manager in charge, anything is possible.”
Emery said he was delighted to have improved Villa’s “brand” in his time at the helm and was now looking forward to establishing them as a top Premier League team and seeking success too in next year’s Champions League.
One thing he is surely going to work on. Villa’s not-so-impressive away record in the Premier League. This season so far, Villa have lost six and drawn as many.
One more away match is there on Sunday, against Manchester City.