{"id":244418,"date":"2026-05-20T21:18:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T21:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/20\/30-years-of-misery-ends-as-aston-villa-wins-europa-league-final-with-wonder-goal-romp\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T21:18:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T21:18:00","slug":"30-years-of-misery-ends-as-aston-villa-wins-europa-league-final-with-wonder-goal-romp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/20\/30-years-of-misery-ends-as-aston-villa-wins-europa-league-final-with-wonder-goal-romp\/","title":{"rendered":"30 years of misery ends as Aston Villa wins Europa League final with wonder goal romp"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Aston Villa ended their 30-year trophy drought in style as spectacular goals from Youri Tielemans and Emiliano Buendia inspired a 3-0 win against Freiburg in the Europa League final on Wednesday (Thursday AEST).<\/p>\n

Get all the latest football news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. Sign up now!!!<\/a><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

Unai Emery\u2019s side took the lead late in the first half in Istanbul through Tielemans\u2019 thunderous volley.<\/p>\n

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Buendia increased Villa\u2019s advantage with a sublime curler seconds before the interval.<\/p>\n

Morgan Rogers\u2019 second-half goal finished off the outclassed Germans, sealing Villa\u2019s first silverware since the 1996 League Cup and their first major European prize for 44 years.<\/p>\n

That famous European Cup final upset of Bayern Munich in 1982, secured by Peter Withe\u2019s goal in Rotterdam, has stood as the most iconic moment in Villa\u2019s 152-year history.<\/p>\n

But Villa\u2019s current stars were determined to follow in the footsteps of the club\u2019s golden generation.<\/p>\n

Now Tielemans, Buendia, John McGinn and company can share the rarified air previously reserved for Withe, Tony Morley, Dennis Mortimer, Nigel Spink and the rest of the Class of \u201882.<\/p>\n

Fittingly, with Withe and Mortimer watching from the stands, Villa crushed Freiburg while wearing white shirts instead of their traditional claret and blue kit \u2014 just as they did against Bayern.<\/p>\n

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John McGinn of Aston Villa lifts the UEFA Europa League trophy with teammates.<\/span>Source: Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI feel amazing. My voice is a bit gone but it\u2019s all good. We put in a shift, top performance, we had a great season. To top it off with this, it\u2019s amazing,\u201d Tielemans said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe only had one day to practise, we did it on Monday and it went brilliantly tonight. So happy.\u201d <\/p>\n

Villa\u2019s memorable finish to the season also included qualifying for the Champions League last week. Tielemans admitted their success was a far cry from the dismal start to the campaign, which featured six winless games and only two goals scored.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s amazing. It\u2019s been a season with a lot of ups and downs. We started so so bad. Our standards were very poor,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way we turned things around was a credit to the players and staff. \u201cWe kept working, believing. We got the win in the end, Champions League next season and a trophy.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Buendia curler helps seal Villa glory | 00:30<\/p>\n

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England midfielder Rogers added: \u201cIt\u2019s hard to put into words, we\u2019ve worked so hard for this. We\u2019ve delivered and come through.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great moment for the fans, great for the club. We\u2019ll go down in history. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe manager has been banging on at me to get easier goals and get into the box. I\u2019m happy I could get a toe onto it and score.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Unai Emery, Manager of Aston Villa, celebrates following the team’s victory in the UEFA Europa League Final.<\/span>Source: Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Villa\u2019s long-awaited continental conquest was the latest Europa League masterclass for Emery, who has now won the tournament five times after victories with Sevilla in 2014, 2015 and 2016 and Villarreal in 2021.<\/p>\n

Emery said this week that he didn\u2019t feel like the \u201cking\u201d of the Europa League, but his team\u2019s coronation got the royal seal of approval from Villa fan Prince William, who was celebrating along with around 20,000 ecstatic supporters in the Besiktas Stadium.<\/p>\n

Hollywood actor Tom Hanks, another famous Villa fan, joined the party, sending a good luck message to the team before kick-off.<\/p>\n

It has been a memorable finish to the campaign for Villa, who sealed qualification for next season\u2019s Champions League with a win against Liverpool last week.<\/p>\n

Villa\u2019s success over the last six days would have been impossible to imagine when they started the season with a run of six matches without a win, scoring just twice in that dismal streak.<\/p>\n

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Aston Villa midfielder Youri Tielemans celebrates after scoring his team’s first goal.<\/span>Source: AFP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Their maiden win this season came in the Europa League against Bologna, the first of 13 victories in 15 games in the competition that culminated in their ruthless demolition of first-time European finalists Freiburg.<\/p>\n

Despite losing in the UEFA Conference League semi-finals in 2024, and the Champions League quarter-finals and FA Cup semi-finals last year, Emery was convinced Villa would eventually cast off their \u2018nearly men\u2019 tag.<\/p>\n

The 54-year-old Spaniard\u2019s unshakeable faith has been rewarded. The Europa League triumph underlined Villa\u2019s impressive renaissance since Emery took charge in October 2022 with the club languishing just three points above the relegation zone.<\/p>\n

Relegated to the second tier in 1987 and 2016 and beaten in their previous four domestic finals prior to arriving in Istanbul, Villa have endured some torrid times since winning the European Cup.<\/p>\n

Those miserable memories were banished forever on an unforgettable night on the banks of the Bosphorus.<\/p>\n

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Aston Villa’s Emiliano Buendia celebrates after scoring his side’s second goal.<\/span>Source: AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Villa dominated from the start and should have been ahead in the opening moments when Noah Atubolu denied Rogers.<\/p>\n

Tielemans shattered Freiburg\u2019s resistance with his moment of magic in the 41st minute.<\/p>\n

Rogers was catalyst in a clever short corner routine, lofting a pinpoint cross towards Tielemans, who timed his run perfectly to slam a brilliant volley past Atubolu from just inside the area.<\/p>\n

It was only Tielemans\u2019 second goal this season and his first since December. Even the Belgian midfielder\u2019s rocket had to take a back seat to Buendia\u2019s gem. Setting his sights on the edge of the area after Freiburg failed to close him down, Buendia curled a majestic finish into the far corner.<\/p>\n

Rogers put the result beyond doubt in the 58th minute, sliding to convert Buendia\u2019s cross as a Villa party three decades in the making went into full swing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aston Villa ended their 30-year trophy drought in style as spectacular goals from Youri Tielemans and Emiliano Buendia inspired a 3-0 win against Freiburg in the Europa League final on Wednesday (Thursday AEST). Get all the latest football news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. Sign up now!!! Unai […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":244419,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6807],"tags":[1800,1641,2230,548,8767,16716,1808,1192,73075,54077,3385,73133,73136,73139,4399,1429,59126,57507,57606,73132,149,1425,13423,45386,2011,12281,6016,73138,61314,1415,73131,73137,1533,1809,71972,854,2242,20667,73135,17430,20665,73134,47615,73141,6407,2023,1252,1792,73142,1847,3150,73140],"class_list":{"0":"post-244418","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leagues-cups","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-asia","10":"tag-aston-villa-football-club","11":"tag-bayern-munich","12":"tag-belgian-midfielder","13":"tag-brilliant-volley","14":"tag-california","15":"tag-champions-league","16":"tag-city-falterfootball","17":"tag-corner-routine","18":"tag-dan-mullan","19":"tag-dennis-mortimer","20":"tag-domestic-finals","21":"tag-ecstatic-supporters","22":"tag-europa-league","23":"tag-europe","24":"tag-european-prize","25":"tag-famous-european","26":"tag-final-upset","27":"tag-first-time-european-finalists","28":"tag-football-news","29":"tag-getty-images-inc","30":"tag-hollywood","31":"tag-hollywood-actor","32":"tag-istanbul","33":"tag-john-mcginn","34":"tag-kingdom-of-the-netherlands","35":"tag-long-awaited-continental-conquest","36":"tag-maiden-win","37":"tag-manchester-city-football-club","38":"tag-misery-ends","39":"tag-nigel-spink","40":"tag-north-america","41":"tag-northern-america","42":"tag-peter-withe","43":"tag-premier-league","44":"tag-relegation-zone","45":"tag-rotterdam","46":"tag-royal-seal","47":"tag-second-half-goal","48":"tag-south-holland","49":"tag-spectacular-goals","50":"tag-tom-hanks","51":"tag-tony-morley","52":"tag-trophy-drought","53":"tag-turkey","54":"tag-unai-emery","55":"tag-united-states-of-america","56":"tag-wearing-white-shirts","57":"tag-western-asia","58":"tag-western-europe","59":"tag-wonder-goal-romp"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}