It is no exaggeration to suggest that no other manager in world football could have matched Unai Emery's success at Aston Villa over the past three and a half years. Having accumulated the fourth-most Premier League points during that period and secured European qualification for four consecutive seasons, including two in the Champions League, the one missing piece in his tenure is no secret.
On Wednesday night, Emery will target his fifth Europa League title in his first final with Villa, aiming to end the club's 30-year wait for silverware. Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens rescued Villa in 2018, after Steve Bruce had steadied the ship. Dean Smith then became a hero by earning promotion with his boyhood club and consolidating its Premier League place. Steven Gerrard's appointment proved a mistake, but Emery has not only built on Smith's foundations but taken the club to a level even the most optimistic supporters could not have anticipated.
Bizarrely snubbed for Manager of the Season, that omission is perhaps the clearest indication that Emery's work has become so impressive it is now seen as standard. "For him, the main objective is to play in the Champions League every year," Pau Torres explains. "We were really disappointed last season when we lost against United. Now that we have done the job in the league, we can focus on the trophy. For the fans, this is the most important thing, enjoying these moments and, for those who can go, hopefully we can celebrate together on Wednesday night."
"The first thing he wanted to do was to get Aston Villa back in European football - he did that," Ezri Konsa adds. "You believe him because of his career and the trophies he has won, also the teams he has managed and players he has worked with. You have no choice but to believe in him and put your all into what he is telling us."
Youri Tielemans, meanwhile, knew from his very first conversation with Emery in the summer of 2023 that Villa was where he wanted to play. "To do it consistently is different than talking. You could tell from the first moment his passion, his ability to do it, because he was already doing it with the team he had at the time," the Belgian insists. "To get that Conference League spot right at the end of the season was great and that's why I bought into it because you could see the progress. It was only going to go up from there."
Villa will ambitiously aim to go even further in next season's Champions League than last term, when they reached the quarter-finals, a run that played a major role in them being installed as favourites for this season's Europa League. So far, they have handled that pressure well, with tangible success now within touching distance. "Of course, on social media you get notifications on a lot of things. Walking around, you hear a lot of people saying that we need to go again on Wednesday and win it," Konsa says. "I think that's normal. We haven't won a European trophy in 44 years, so it would be special to do it on Wednesday. It would mean everything. For me, personally, I have been here a long time. Some ups and downs, from surviving on the last day to now playing in a European final. It's something I can't really describe. I want to win the trophy on Wednesday for me and the fans."
Part of the core group that has played a key role in the club's ascent, Konsa, like John McGinn, Tyrone Mings, Ollie Watkins, Emi Martinez and Matty Cash, is determined to mark his career at Villa with major success. But newer arrivals are also acutely aware of it, none more so than Torres, who won the Europa League with Emery at Villarreal five years ago. "For us to win a trophy, it is important for the club to be in Europe too," Torres adds. "For finances and prestige of the club as well. At the end, if you don't win a trophy, for the fans they think, 'OK, you have done really good seasons, but we want more'. Hopefully, we can win the trophy in Istanbul."
Torres scored the 10th of Villarreal's 11 perfect spot-kicks against United in the 2021 final, a match remembered for its extraordinarily long shootout. "A lot of penalties! It was special, playing for my team and my city, with my friends and family in the stadium," Torres says. "It was the first trophy for Villarreal in history. It was different, but we have very good form now in how we are playing and will face this final in the best moment of the season."
Nobody knows Emery better than Torres in the Villa squad, and he doesn't think his passion and focus on success have changed one bit. "Unai is pushing in the same way, he wants to win. This will be his fifth Europa League trophy, and hopefully we can give it to him. More or less, he was the same like he is here now. With his mentality and winning mentality, he is pushing a lot to work with players during the season and arrive at this moment with the opportunity to win a trophy. He is concerned about the opportunity we have now - it is an amazing opportunity to play in a European final for this club. He will prepare very well. We have done a great job in the league, qualifying for the Champions League, and we have the chance to play this final with more calmness and only thinking in this moment."
Emery's unmatched experience in this competition will be a huge boost for Villa heading into the final. "Definitely. He knows the competition well and has won it four times," Konsa highlights. "When you have a manager like Unai, who knows the tournament well, it gives you more confidence 100 per cent." But what exactly makes Emery so special? "His attention to detail," the England international emphatically responds. "The passion that he shows and the dedication, the hours that he puts in behind closed doors to make sure a game goes right. Everything about him makes him a top, top manager. I've enjoyed working under him a lot."
Tielemans agrees: "His attention to detail, his analysis of the game, how we can be better, his demands as well, he's very much hands-on with players in training. Sometimes he uses you as an example and shows how you can do things and sometimes you don't do them, why are you not doing them then, you're doing them there. It pushes you to do them every time and again and to be the best version of yourself. And then even more. If you can do it one time, two times, all the way through – it helps you become a better player. With him what I find special and in my opinion is different from other managers is that he doesn't listen to the outside noise. Let's say you have a bad game or make a mistake or whatever, he's going to be there to support you, no matter what, when you've proven to him that he can trust you, whether it is by offensive actions, your commitment to the team, then he's going to look at you and he's not going to let you down if you don't let him down. That is a special bond that he creates with the players that prove to him that they are worthy of playing. Once you've got that, then he's going to give you the world and obviously you don't have to break that commitment to him and the team. Just give it your all and then everything is going to come good."
"He pushes every player a lot in the training and video sessions," adds Torres. "Most players are now going with their national team - this is great value to the club. It is important that the players follow what the staff wants. We are obviously achieving really good things by following their instructions, and we are happy with our staff. We are enjoying every season and we want to finish the trophy with a trophy."
Although Wednesday night could crown what would be Villa's best season in decades, the campaign hasn't always been smooth. Villa failed to win any of their opening six matches across all competitions and didn't score their first goal until the fifth game, in a penalty shootout defeat at Brentford. A remarkable run of 11 consecutive wins followed in the middle third of the season, before injuries to Boubacar Kamara, Tielemans and McGinn after the New Year disrupted momentum. Victory against Liverpool on Friday night, however, secured Champions League football ahead of the clash with SC Freiburg. Emery, meanwhile, is often more demanding and critical of his players when Villa are winning than when performances fall short. "It's weird because sometimes when we come into the changing room at half-time, we feel like we're having a bad game and he's there to cheer us up, and not put us down even more than what we are," Tielemans explains. "Let's say for example recently at half-time against Tottenham, we didn't compete at all with them, we were having a bad day, a bad game, and he was there to put us back with both feet on the ground, to say, listen, we are where we are because of our consistency and no matter what happens he said he is proud of us. That's his message to cheer us up and make sure that we never give up and go out and have a better game in the second half. I would say usually midway through the season he's always level, he's always very calm, very composed, always very happy about a win, but yesterday he was more happy than other times but still with one eye on Wednesday."
Villa's first group tactical meeting took place on Monday, following a brief break from rigorous pre-match preparation over the weekend. Only two full days to prepare for Wednesday night, but that still leaves plenty of hours for meetings and individual discussions. "He prepared really well in previous rounds," Torres recalls. "He knows everything about the opponents. His staff analyses the other teams and, when we face them, we will know what to do on the pitch. It is a really good team, Freiburg, they performed well last year and are now getting this final. They usually go man to man and enjoy duels all over the pitch. We have beaten teams like that, like Bologna, they played more or less similar. We will play this final in that way, I think. As a team, we don't know if we will have another chance to play a final together. We played quarter-finals and semi-finals before, but playing a final is really difficult, so we need to enjoy the moment and the final, giving our best to the team."
