ASTON VILLA ended their 30-year wait for a trophy with a 3-0 win over Freiburg in the Europa League final on Wednesday.
Goals from Youri Tielemans, Emiliano Buendia and Morgan Rogers helped Unai Emery's side win their first silverware since the 1996 League Cup and their first major European title in 44 years.
Tielemans opened the scoring late in the first half in Istanbul with a volley before Buendia doubled Villa's lead seconds before the break.
Rogers added the third in the second half as Villa completed a comfortable win over the German side.
Villa's 1982 European Cup final victory against Bayern Munich, secured by Peter Withe's goal in Rotterdam, has long been considered the biggest moment in the club's history.
Now Tielemans, Buendia, John McGinn and the current squad have added their own chapter after ending Villa's long wait for European success.
With Withe and Dennis Mortimer in the stands, Villa wore white shirts instead of their usual claret and blue kit, the same colours they wore in the 1982 final against Bayern.
The win also extended Emery's strong Europa League record. The Villa manager has now won the competition five times after earlier triumphs with Sevilla in 2014, 2015 and 2016, and Villarreal in 2021.
Emery said this week that he did not feel like the "king" of the Europa League, but Villa fan Prince William celebrated the victory with around 20,000 supporters inside the Besiktas Stadium.
Actor Tom Hanks, another Villa supporter, also sent a message wishing the team luck before kick-off.
Villa had already secured qualification for next season's Champions League after beating Liverpool last week.
Their recent success looked unlikely earlier in the season when Villa went six matches without a win and scored only twice during that run.
Villa's first win of the campaign came against Bologna in the Europa League. It started a run that saw them win 13 of their 15 matches in the competition, ending with victory over Freiburg in the final.
After losing in the UEFA Conference League semi-finals in 2024 and the Champions League quarter-finals and FA Cup semi-finals last year, Emery believed Villa would eventually move beyond their near misses.
The Europa League title continued Villa's rise since Emery took charge in October 2022 when the club were only three points above the relegation zone.
Villa were relegated in 1987 and 2016 and had lost their previous four domestic finals before arriving in Istanbul.
But they controlled most of the final and nearly took the lead early on when Noah Atubolu denied Rogers.
Tielemans broke Freiburg's resistance in the 41st minute.
Rogers played a short corner to create the chance before delivering a cross towards Tielemans, who struck a volley past Atubolu from inside the area.
It was only Tielemans' second goal of the season and his first since December.
Buendia added the second shortly afterwards.
After Freiburg failed to close him down outside the area, Buendia curled his shot into the far corner.
Rogers completed the scoring in the 58th minute, sliding in to convert Buendia's cross as Villa's celebrations began.
