Aston Villa manager Unai Emery has dismissed suggestions that he is the 'king' of the Europa League as he prepares his team for the final against Freiburg in Istanbul on Wednesday. Emery has won the competition four times previously—three times with Sevilla and once with Villarreal—but he insists that past successes will have no bearing on the outcome of the match at Besiktas Park.
Emery's Humble Response
Speaking at a pre-match press conference, Emery stated: 'I am not a king in this competition. I am now with Aston Villa in a new chapter and everything I did is done. It’s there in that moment, but with it I am not winning tomorrow. I need to win tomorrow with the players we have now, with Aston Villa now, with the opponent we face tomorrow. So it’s a new way, a new moment and hopefully a new era.'
The Spaniard emphasised that he does not want to dwell on his previous achievements, adding: 'I don’t want to speak a lot about the thing we did before. Now, this year, and the matches we played before in the Conference League or in the Champions League, and they are showing the capacity to play at a high level.'
Villa's Transformation Under Emery
Emery has overseen a remarkable transformation at Villa Park since replacing Steven Gerrard in November 2022. The club has gone from battling relegation to competing for major honours. Victory on Wednesday would secure Villa's first major trophy in 30 years—since the 1996 League Cup—and their first European crown since their European Cup triumph in 1982. The team has also qualified for the Champions League this season.
Embracing the Pressure
Emery acknowledged that his players will feel the pressure of the occasion but urged them to view it positively. 'This is a process. A process (for) how we could achieve, building the team and our structure. Now it’s a new experience we will have tomorrow. It’s very important how we manage our emotions and we’ve done it for a lot of matches and there are a lot of emotions. The pressure is here as well, but we must try to understand the pressure like something positive, not negative. And the pressure is when you are playing for something important. And of course we have experience here.'
Overcoming a Slow Start
Villa's success this season is all the more impressive given that they failed to win any of their first six matches in all competitions. Emery admitted that the slow start left him 'really worried' but praised his players for their response. 'We started so poorly at the beginning of the season for different reasons. But how the players responded in the difficult moments was really amazing. We were mature in the difficult moments. This is the most important characteristic we had during the season—mature and responsible. I was worried at the beginning. Really worried. I was always trying to find solutions in each moment. I needed the players, I needed the work we did and the reaction we did. But we did it together.'
