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.
