It was 1.43am in Istanbul when Aston Villa’s players began to make tracks for their hotel, over the road from the rubber ring-like Besiktas Park. Matty Cash walked into a windowless basement at the stadium, bottle of Efes in hand, and toasted a Europa League victory that will be etched in history, the club’s first trophy in three decades. “The king set the gameplan out for us,” he said of Unai Emery, who, if he was not there already, now has a god-like status among the fans.
Moments earlier, John McGinn joked that Prince William, who joined the players for beers amid the dressing-room celebrations, might “get his credit card out” and stump up for a free bar. Villa’s billionaire co-owners, Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens, were also in attendance, the former delighted that Emery had delivered on his promise to put another piece of silverware in a trophy cabinet that had been gathering dust. “It means a lot,” Sawiris said, wearing a Villa scarf. “I can’t express myself with words. Amazing. Very special. An eight-year ride and we saw today what hard work can do with Unai’s effort and the whole team.” Asked what’s next, there came a reminder of Villa’s ambition. “The sky’s the limit,” he replied.
Emery had spent the previous three and a half years walking past the European Cup, lifted by Dennis Mortimer in 1982, that sits round the corner from his office at the club’s Bodymoor Heath training base. Nigel Spink, one of the heroes in Rotterdam and among the former players present for Wednesday’s final, had said it was about time that the trophy moved along the mantelpiece. Villa triumphed in style against Freiburg, outclassing the Bundesliga side, and, after flying back on Thursday morning, will spend the afternoon celebrating Emery’s fifth Europa League on an open-top bus parade. Their Istanbul party went on until after 7am, Emery and McGinn giving speeches and William there with little security.
Villa’s players were never going to go quietly. Morgan Rogers, scorer of his side’s third goal in the final, headed for the team bus wearing ski goggles, following a trail of teammates on a kind of conga as they exited the bowels of the ground. Jadon Sancho had a speaker blaring music, Leon Bailey, Amadou Onana, Lamare Bogarde and Ian Maatsen not far behind him. Villa’s players were keen to savour the occasion.
For Ollie Watkins, who has hit double figures for Villa for a sixth straight season, a first winner’s medal. Finally, tangible reward after a couple of near misses for club and country. “I’m not going to get too carried away,” he said of the celebrations, in part because after the final whistle he was selected to do Uefa’s mandatory anti-doping tests. “I want to remember it. I’ll party, but I want to cherish the moment. It has been so long since we won a trophy and this tops the season off.”
Watkins is part of a Villa core that have been on a rollercoaster ride with the club. Villa dodged relegation by one point in 2020, the season after averting financial crisis by clinching promotion via the playoffs. Watkins was one of six players in Wednesday’s XI who were in Emery’s first Villa starting lineup; 11 players from that squad in November 2022 were celebrating in Istanbul. “This club was close to being in a right bad way seven years ago,” McGinn said. “Tonight was everything we built coming together. The pride I felt with 10 minutes to go knowing we were about to be champions … I can’t describe it.”
Villa’s squad will surely evolve this summer. With a Champions League place secure, there is a desire to sign elite talent – potentially from rivals and perhaps players previously deemed out of reach – in an attempt to go to the next level. At the same time, the likelihood is the window will be another balancing act. The financial regulations remain prohibitive for teams with high wage bills and without huge revenues. Villa have been unafraid to trade and know players such as Rogers have a queue of admirers. The future of Emiliano Martínez, who broke a finger in the warm-up, remains unclear.
But those conundrums and conversations can wait. Villa’s players had the date of the game and the opponent inscribed on their special-edition shirts and it was a night that will live long in the memory of everybody of a claret-and-blue persuasion. Who will forget Martínez hoisting Emery on to his shoulders? Ian Taylor, part of the Villa team that won their last trophy, the League Cup in 1996, erupted with joy. William, sitting behind the former Villa defender and now ambassador Ahmed Elmohamady, issued his royal approval. Towards the end of the on-pitch celebrations, McGinn was practising knee slides with his nephews.
“When we were on the way to the stadium, we went past loads of Villa fans: ‘Wow’ … that’s when it hit,” Cash says. “In the hotel you’re relaxing, thinking: ‘Right, try and stay calm.’ My friends were out on the razz all day getting drunk, talking about how excited they are and I’m in bed: ‘I need to focus here, I’ve got a final to play.’
“Driving into the stadium, the fans were incredible; they deserve it so much. Ginny [McGinn] spoke about how they went to Rotherham away, Wigan [in the Championship] … they’ve seen the club at its lowest, they have seen the highs. The parade, we’re all going to enjoy it.” Will there be any time for some shut-eye? “Naaaah,” he says. “I’m going to party for the next however long, the next couple of days.”