NORTH LONDON — Unai Emery guided Aston Villa to victory in this season's Europa League final, delivering the club's first European trophy under his management. The triumph extended Emery's record in the competition to four titles, a competition record.

The final was Emery's sixth in 12 years, a tally bettered only by Giovanni Trapattoni, who has managed seven. Emery has won every Europa League final he has overseen with the exception of 2019, when Arsenal lost to Chelsea under his charge.

Emery won three consecutive Europa League titles with Sevilla in 2014, 2015 and 2016, and added a fourth with Villarreal in 2021 through a penalty shootout victory over Manchester United. Across his career, he has managed 115 Europa League games and won 71. His win rate in the competition while at Aston Villa stands at 85.7%.

The victory carried Aston Villa to their first European final in 44 years, since the club won the European Cup. Since the start of the 2023-24 season, no team has won more European matches than Aston Villa's tally of 26.

Emery joined Aston Villa in October 2022, replacing Steven Gerrard, and stated upon his arrival that he had come to the club to win silverware. "I am not a king in this competition. I need to win with the players we have now, with Villa now. So now it's a new way, a new moment, and hopefully a new era," Emery said after the final.

England defender Tyrone Mings reflected on the manager's record in the competition. "The manager is somewhat of a European genius, isn't he?" Mings said.

Broadcaster Simon Jordan addressed Emery's earlier spell in English football, when he managed Arsenal before being dismissed. "It proves that Arsenal weren't wrong when they went for him. Just the timing, he was the right person probably at the wrong time, and look at the language the media thought it was funny to ridicule his inability to articulate the way he thought he should do. No one is ridiculing him now," Jordan said.