Reflections: Aston Villa, 2025/26 UEFA Europa League winners

Thirty years later, Villa finally have another major trophy to celebrate

I was about to leave primary school in March 1996. England was preparing to host a major international tournament after thirty years of hurt and all that. Football felt authentic and alive, perfectly imperfect, and my team was chasing down a second trophy in three seasons.

Aston Villa breezed through the Coca-Cola Cup final against Leeds United. They would never again win a cup final at the old Wembley Stadium.

Eleven is the best age for thinking everything lasts forever. Villa were so emphatic in their two finals that I just assumed they’d be hoisting another cup before long.

My primary school arranged some Wembley visits to watch a former pupil playing for England Schoolboys. I went to England matches before and after EURO 96. Wembley became normal and I learned the hard way that it wasn’t.

Watching Villa win the Europa League final on Wednesday was surreal. I went to most of Villa’s home matches in the UEFA Cup in the nineties and the idea of actually winning it never came up.

It’s different now but the trophy is the trophy and you can only win the tournament that’s in front of you. All my nervousness between the semi-final against Nottingham Forest and the final against Freiburg was the self-inflicted result of being unable to imagine losing in Istanbul.

Now, in the glow of victory, I feel a bit silly for getting worked up about that. We had all the data; Villa were the favourites for a reason. Unai Emery knew what was required. It was never going to end any other way.

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The greater part of football is mundanity. For most teams in most seasons, it’s a slog in vain.

It’s in the normal, in the unspectacular, that I wallow. One has to really love football to tolerate it sometimes and I do so happily, but it can come with a tacit acceptance that silverware is for other clubs.

Not anymore.

It still hasn’t really sunk in. Seeing John McGinn lifting the trophy in Istanbul was just the first step in processing what Villa have achieved. Stage two hasn’t arrived yet.

The Europa League trophy now stands at Villa Park with the Football League first division trophy, the FA Cup, the League Cup and the European Cup – I haven’t wrapped my head around that.

There’s an acute context as well as the historic one. Villa had waited thirty years for a trophy and forty-four years for a European title. They were also determined to cap today’s Villa, Emery’s Villa, with the trophy they and we felt they were capable of winning.

The final was satisfying because all of that mattered.

There was a sense outside the club that Villa were favourites to win the Europa League from the start and would cruise through the final against a team dismissively referred to as the seventh-best in the Bundesliga. Freiburg being disrespected on our behalf did nothing to settle my stomach.

If the players felt even a fraction of the nerves that made me feel physically sick for most of the final day, the performance they produced was miraculous.

Emery mapped out a textbook Villa display. Villa had the match in their grip from kick-off, felt their way into the match and then took the final away from Freiburg in a few exhilarating minutes at the end of the first half. The game plan was executed exactly as it was drawn up.

Memories of Pau Torres and Ezri Konsa defending in their slippers will fade.

Eventually, we’ll forget Matty Cash and Lucas Digne doing their bit with aplomb.

The contribution of Victor Lindelöf will live on in law but it won’t be long before it’s too distant to picture that much of it.

Emiliano Martínez played with a broken finger but he doesn’t like to talk about it.

Ollie Watkins didn’t score and nobody cares because he was awesome again, but, as recollections diminish, it’s the goals that will catch the mind’s eye.

The goals. The goals! Incredible.

The clipped pass from Morgan Rogers was so precise that I was off and running even before Youri Tielemans smashed in a volley to put Villa in front.

The sensational left-footed Emi Buendía curler to put the trophy in McGinn’s hands before half time.

Rogers poking in at the near post to turn the second half into a half-hour celebration.

These are the moments. This is what this whole thing is all about. That is how McGinn and Tyrone Mings became European champions seven years after their professionalism, dedication and leadership helped to get Villa out of the Championship.

Football legends are made of these things. Understanding what that means, the extent of it, has thus far proved beyond me.