The Unai Emery lesson Aston Villa can learn to bring back the European glory years

Some are calling it Astonbul. It is also part of the Villa trilogy. And not, though Unai Emery has flagged it up, Aston Villa ’s progress to the quarter-finals of three different European competitions in as many seasons.

But having won the Europa League with Sevilla and Villarreal, now he could do likewise with the Villa as they face Freiburg in Istanbul. A fifth Europa League crown would cement Emery’s status as the Carlo Ancelotti of this competition; only Giovanni Trapattoni has won it more than twice, but that was in a different era when, with a solitary club per country qualifying automatically for the European Cup, the Uefa Cup was arguably the hardest to claim. Emery’s first four triumphs came in the time when teams dropped out of the Champions League – his Sevilla among them in 2015-16 – to render the competition in the secondary competition tougher.

Unai Emery has won the Europa League five times (Getty) Emery can win as an underdog – the knockout stages in 2021, besides his Villarreal, featured Arsenal, Tottenham, AC Milan, Roma, Ajax and the runners-up Manchester United – and now could do so as favourites. But when this season’s Europa League started, Villa looked the most obvious winners. Partly due to Emery’s pedigree, but as a side who reached the last eight of the Champions League months earlier, with Premier League revenues , without the possibility of superpowers dropping down into the Europa League after Christmas.

Unai Emery has steered Aston Villa to the brink of European success (AP) And yet an obvious success can still be a huge achievement. Emery has a capacity to make history. March brought the 30th anniversary of Villa’s last major silverware.