Unai Emery and his impressive record in the Europa League

When Aston Villa face Freiburg in the Europa League final at the Tupras Stadium in Istanbul on Wednesday, 20 May, they will do so with the most experienced manager in the history of the competition standing in their dugout.

With the bet on Freiburg vs Aston Villa markets making Unai Emery’s side the 7/10 favourites against the Bundesliga outfit at 16/5, Villa could not ask for a more qualified operator to guide them through the biggest night in the club’s European history since the 1982 European Cup.

This will be Emery’s sixth Europa League final, reached with four different clubs, a record that has no parallel in the sport.

Valencia: The foundation

Emery’s relationship with the Europa League began at Valencia, where he took the club on two deep runs in the competition. They reached the quarter-finals in 2009-10, losing to eventual winners Atletico Madrid on away goals, and went one better in 2011-12, falling to Atletico again at the semi-final stage.

The Valencia years did not deliver silverware, but they established the pattern that would define his career: organised, resilient teams capable of navigating the two-legged knockout format better than almost any other coach in Europe.

Sevilla: Where the legend was built

It was at Sevilla where Emery became ‘Mr Europa League’. He won three consecutive titles with the Spanish club, beating Benfica in 2014, Dnipro in 2015, and Liverpool in 2016, turning Sevilla into the modern kings of the competition.

The 2014 triumph came on penalties after a goalless draw with Benfica, the 2015 final was settled by a Carlos Bacca winner against Dnipro, and the 2016 victory over Liverpool was the most emphatic of the three, a 3-1 win that announced Emery’s Sevilla as one of the great European cup sides of the modern era.

What made the achievement particularly extraordinary was the context. Winning the Europa League earns automatic qualification for the Champions League, meaning Sevilla returned each season as Champions League participants before re-entering the Europa League, starting the journey again with a higher-quality squad and even greater opposition. Emery won it three times regardless.

Arsenal: The one that got away

The move to Arsenal brought Emery to the Premier League and, in 2018-19, back to the Europa League final. His side reached the showpiece in Baku and led for a period against Chelsea before a second-half collapse produced a 4-1 defeat, with Eden Hazard producing one of the great individual Europa League final performances.

It remains the only final Emery has lost in the competition, and the manner of the defeat made it harder to take. For much of the match, Arsenal had been in it. When Chelsea’s quality told, it told decisively.

Villarreal: Redemption in Gdansk

Europa League odds rarely favour the underdog, but Villarreal in 2020-21 is the template for what Emery does with unfashionable clubs in European competition. Against Manchester United in Gdansk, his team held their nerve through a marathon penalty shootout to win the club’s first major European trophy.

It was a performance built on exactly the qualities that have defined Emery’s Europa League campaigns throughout: tactical discipline, collective organisation, and an ability to manage pressure in the most demanding moments. The fact that he knocked Arsenal out in the semi-finals on the way to the final added an extra layer of narrative to an already compelling story

Aston Villa: Chasing a fifth

With this final appearance, Emery has now surpassed Jurgen Klopp to become the manager with the most European final appearances since 2010. Villa reached the Tupras Stadium in emphatic fashion, overturning a first-leg deficit against Nottingham Forest with a 4-0 win at Villa Park in the semi-final, and they arrive in Istanbul as favourites against a Freiburg side making their first major European final.

For Villa supporters, the context is everything. This is their first European final in 44 years, and it is being contested by a side built by a manager who has won this trophy four times and lost it only once. Emery has been here before, in pressure, in the spotlight, and with everything at stake. His record in this competition suggests that counts for a great deal.