Three-and-a-half years ago, he walked into Villa Park and vowed he had joined Aston Villa to win trophies. On Wednesday in Istanbul, he achieved it.
Skipper John McGinn lifted the Europa League after a 3-0 victory over Freiburg to etch Villa’s name into the history books again.
In front of nine of the 1982 European Cup heroes – including captain Dennis Mortimer and goalscorer Peter Withe – Villa wrote themselves another momentous chapter.
Spectacular strikes from Youri Tielemans and Emi Buendia sent them on their way, with Morgan Rogers sealing victory.
This time, they still played in white and beat a German team in red. Instead of Bayern Munich, it was Freiburg. Instead of Rotterdam, it was Istanbul.
For Witte, it was Tielemans, Buendia, and Rogers as Emery clinched his fifth Europa League title.
Unai Emery has won five Europa Leagues in 12 years
Emery’s previous four were already a competition record, and while he dismissed the suggestion he was a European king, he is a serial winner.
It is now six finals and five wins – with the latest cementing a legacy at Villa Park which will last decades.
Villa officials were nervous about discussing the trophy parade in advance, as it needed to be organized in advance, given the disruption in Birmingham, but the squad will flaunt it in the city on Thursday afternoon.
Emery said: “I am thankful to [co-owners] Nassef [Sawiris] and Wes [Edens]… they are always supporting. I am thankful to the supporters, and I am thankful for the players.
“All the times I am successful in this competition, I need good players. Now I am so thankful for the players; they are following our ambitions.
“They are protagonists on the field. This is the reason I am not feeling the king in this competition. I am feeling really thankful – we are the kings together.
“After 1982, the club won the European Cup; it was something they were missing – the supporters – a trophy. Achieving this one is making us so, so happy, but we are not going to stop.”
If Tielemans’ volley – rounding off a short corner routine – gave them the platform, then Buendia’s curler into the top corner put one hand on the trophy.
Former Villa midfielder Ian Taylor, a fan of the club who scored in the 1996 League Cup win – the last time Villa had won major silverware – leaped out of his press box chair and punched the air.
Rogers’ third had the substitutes celebrating on the pitch and an airborne Emery jumping on the touchline with clenched fists. Victory was assured.
“I feel amazing,” Tielemans told TNT. “My voice is a bit gone, but it’s all good. We put in a shift, a top performance, and we had a great season. To top it off, this is amazing.
“It’s been a season with a lot of ups and downs. We started so, so bad. Our standards were very poor.
“The way we turned things around was a credit to the players and staff. We kept working, believing. We got the win in the end, Champions League next season, and a trophy.”
