Aston Villa head to Istanbul to face SC Freiburg in the UEFA Europa League final on Wednesday, with Villa aiming to win just the second major European trophy in their history and their first trophy of any kind since 1996.
Unai Emery is the king of this competition, winning it four times already as a manager, and Villa are the red-hot favorites to beat German side Freiburg. Villa have already secured Champions League qualification via their top five finish in the Premier League, but the spot they would gain for the Champions League could potentially be useful to other Premier League clubs. Why? If Villa win the Europa League and then finish in fifth in the Premier League table, their Champions League spot would fall to the team who finish in sixth in the Premier League.
Freiburg should not be underestimated, at all, with the Bundesliga side finishing seventh in their league and they've been consistently in the latter stages of European tournaments in recent years. Julian Schuster's side were promoted to the Bundesliga in 2016 and have finished in the top 10 in eight of those campaigns, and they are a very good cup team with plenty of runs in the German Cup, and they've also at least reached the Europa League last 16 three times in the last four years.
For everything you need for Freiburg vs Aston Villa, check below.
Kick off time: 3pm ET Wednesday (May 20)
Venue: Tupras Stadium — Istanbul
TV Channel/Streaming: Paramount+
Croatian striker Igor Matanovic is their top goalscorer, while Matthias Ginter will hold things together at the back. Freiburg are a solid team and love to launch transitions and score from set pieces. Just like Villa. They beat RB Leipzig 4-1 in their Bundesliga finale to qualify for the Conference League playoffs via their league position for next season. They have never won a European trophy, or been in the Champions League, so that is a huge carrot dangling in front of them.
Emery's side hammered Liverpool 4-2 last time out last Friday to seal Champions League qualification, and have had plenty of time to prepare for this final. Emery knows his best team with Ollie Watkins back in form and leading the line and Morgan Rogers and John McGinn cutting in from the left and right superbly. Villa have plenty of players who have returned from injury for the final weeks of the season and their squad is so strong and they have so many options. However, Amadou Onana and Boubacar Kamara are out in midfield, which is a blow, but Youri Tielemans and Victor Lindelof will hold things together in front of a solid back four.
This will be a fun game with both teams really good on the counter. Go for a narrow Villa win in a thriller. Freiburg 2-3 Aston Villa .
