These are the good old days: 13 Europa League final thoughts
Aston Villa won European silverware for the second time in their history
1. I read a quote from Seamus Heaney on the flight to Istanbul:
“History says, ‘don’t hope
on this side of the grave’
“But then, once in a lifetime
The longed-for tidal wave
”Of justice can rise up
And hope and history rhyme.”
You might think it disrespectful to compare the struggle of the Irish to a 30-year trophy drought, but Aston Villa have won fuck all since the Good Friday Agreement.
2. Then again, the Arctic Monkeys once sang:
“Anticipation has a habit to set you up,
For disappointment in evening entertainment books.”
3. Despite spanning two continents, there was no possible middle ground in Istanbul
The opposition, the previous few years and Unai Emery’s Europa League pedigree meant heroic failure wasn’t an option. There was a horrible feeling that it was going to be Villa’s best or worst night for 44 years.
4. A pre-match thought that I couldn’t get out of my head:
There’s a good chance it was never going to get better than this. My rational head says that Villa almost certainly won’t win the Premier League or Champions League in our lifetimes, and while an FA Cup win would touch parts of my soul that the Europa League could never, the intoxicating mix of second-tier European glory and a 30-year wait feels, perhaps, unsurpassable.
Drink it in lads; these are the good old days.
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5. The Villa coach drove through the throng of Villa fans as we walked down the hill to the stadium.
Surrounded by flares, screams and flashing lights, Emery stared straight ahead. I will for the rest of my life tell people that this was the moment I knew we’d win. The truth is, I’d have killed for a smile and wave.
6. The five minutes before halftime have, finally, after 16-and-a-half years, knocked Zat Knight’s injury time sliced equaliser against Arsenal on Boxing Day off the top of my objectively correct ‘most intense celebrations at the Villa’ list.
7. We could write essays about every fucking one of them couldn’t we?
The underdogs, the broken toys, the ones that reach heights they never thought possible. But to highlight any one of them would be a disservice to the others.
8. Ok fine, Emi Buendía.
You’ve proved us all wrong. In fact, you did it twice because we all wrote you off again for the first few months of the year and you’ve been the best player over the greatest few weeks of our lives. You bloody brilliant bastard.
9. But that’s it. Just him.
10. My mate started crying at half time.
The closest I got was when Emiliano Martínez got Emery up on his shoulders. Maybe it was the sight of Emery finally, publicly, accepting the love we have for him. Maybe I was just exhausted. We’ll never know.
11. Thoughts turned to those who weren’t there.
The ones too old, or too young, or too bound up in the messiness of the real world, to travel. Or those who are no longer there at all.
12. Ignore number 9. We couldn’t not talk about John McGinn, could we?
What do you want? The goals? The arse? The way he’s dragged the time out of the gutter multiple times this season.
Nope, it’s the kneeslides in front of the Villa fans with his nephews. Maybe the reason he can do the former is because he’s the kind of man who does the latter. Nothing makes me prouder to be a Villa fan than knowing that man is our captain.
13. I booked flights to take my lad to the UEFA Super Cup in Salzburg.
I wasn’t going to let him miss this in August. He was back home celebrating a win and mourning a dead fish. He got a new one the next day and called it Unai.
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