Aston Villa

Freiburg's Igor Matanovic leads the line for the Bundesliga side.

The Croatia international has 16 goals for club and country this season to help Freiburg finish seventh in Germany this season.

Freiburg XI: Atubolu, Kubler, Ginter, Lienhart, Treu, Eggestein, Hofler, Beste, Manzambi, Grifo, Matanovic.

Subs: Muller, Huth, Jung, Osterhage, Scherhant, Holer, Irie, Philipp, Gunter, Makengo, Rosenfelder, Ogbus.

Unai Emery names an unchanged line up from Villa's 4-2 win over Liverpool on Friday, a victory which sealed a Champions League spot.

It means Amadou Onana only makes the bench after a knee injury while Victor Lindelof continues in midfield.

Tammy Abraham returns to the stadium he used to call home before his £18.25m move from Besiktas to Villa in January.

Aston Villa XI: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne, Lindelof, Tielemans; McGinn, Buendia, Rogers, Watkins.

Subs: Bizot, Wright, Mings, Elliott, Garcia, Abraham, Sancho, Luiz, Maatsen, Onana, Bogarde, Bailey.

European finals are "feelings and moments nobody can take away from you", says Aston Villa legend Mark Bosnich.

The former goalkeeper made 227 appearances for the Villans in all competitions between February 1992 and July 1999.

"I'm really full of excitement," the former Australia international told BBC Radio WM before the Europa League final where his former side take on Frieburg in Istanbul.

"I'm behind everyone at Aston Villa - the supporters, the staff and the players - because it has been a very long time between drinks, so to speak.

"The most important thing will be to play the game and not the occasion.

"I want the players and the newer supporters to experience a cup win. These are feelings and moments in your life that nobody can take away from you, ever."

Listen to the full conversation by pressing play above or listen on BBC Sounds

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Former Aston Villa midfielder Marc Albrighton speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live from Istanbul, the host city of tonight's Europa League final: "I think the feeling is quietly confident. It's going to be a difficult game. Finals, as we saw in the FA Cup final at the weekend, are usually cagey. I don't expect this one to be any different. I think Villa over the course of the season seem to play better in the second half and seem to open up a bit. I expect a cagey start but I do expect Villa to go on and win it in the second half."

On the atmosphere in Istanbul: "Fantastic. I got a flight yesterday morning and from the moment I got to Birmingham Airport, it was just a sea of Villa everywhere. It was amazing to see so many fans that have come out here and then last night being in and around the city and seeing streets full of claret and blue - claret and blue flags in restaurants. It seems very good and friendly with the locals as well, which is fantastic."

On Villa being used to big occasions: "Over the course of the last couple of years with the European nights they have had at Villa Park, they always seem to show up on those big occasions, none more so than against Nottingham Forest in the semi-final. I see a lot of these players that have come good and adapted to every situation that they have been put in. You've got the manager Unai Emery who has got a great record in this competition but I've got all trust and faith in him that he will have the players in the right mindset and mentality going into this game tonight."

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If you had told Aston Villa centre-back Ezri Konsa early on in the season that Aston Villa would have confirmed their place in the Champions League next season and be in the Europa League final he "would have laughed at you".

However, that is exactly the position Aston Villa find themselves in.

Unai Emery's side started the 2025-26 campaign in terrible fashion, with four draws and two losses, in all competitions.

The Europa League is a competition which Emery knows very well, and it was the competition where Villa picked up their first win of the season in a 1-0 win at home against Bologna in September 2025.

In an open letter from Konsa to Villa fans in the Players Tribune, external, Konsa recalls a "long, long meeting" where Emery told his side he was "worried" for the rest of the season after a poor start.

"In that meeting, you could tell that something was wrong just by the way he spoke. All I could think was, I'm not sure we're going to get out of this rut," added Konsa.

Konsa touches on Villa narrowly avoiding relegation in 2020, and acknowledges the support his family have given him during his career.

Senior Football Reporter for BBC Radio 5 Live, Ian Dennis told Radio WM: "I was reading it, and I was thinking, 'I am going to go to war after reading that'.

"I wonder if sometimes in football things align. I got a little shiver when I read the Konsa post, I must admit."

You can listen to Ian Dennis below

Listen to live commentary of the Europa League final on BBC Radio 5 Live from 20:00 BST on Wednesday.

Nick Mashiter in Istanbul
Football reporter

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Former Aston Villa chief executive Paul Faulkner has labelled Unai Emery a "magician".

The Villa boss took over when the club was three points above the relegation zone in November 2022 before taking them into Europe by the end of the season.

He has guided Villa to the Champions League twice, having sealed a second qualification last week after beating Liverpool, and is on the brink of ending the club's 30-year trophy drought in Istanbul.

"He's been incredible as a manager. The team was struggling under his predecessor, Steven Gerrard, and he's just transformed it," said Faulkner, who was chief executive under former owner Randy Lerner for four years.

"He's got a lot of the same players, they've added a little bit to the squad but a lot of this team have been there for an awfully long time, predating the manager.

"You see how he's managed to knit that unit together and get consistent results. Absolutely remarkable, I think he's a magician.

"It would be nice now just to cap that off with some silverware. These opportunities are tough to get to so when you are in a final it'll be great to get the tangible return on the brilliant work he's done."

It has been tipping it down in Istanbul for the past couple of hours.

Enterprising umbrella salesmen have done good business out of the Aston Villa and Freiburg fans who have taken shelter anywhere they can.

It has taken a little of the atmosphere away which has been building nicely since Tuesday, with fans congregating around the city's Taksim Square.

Kick-off is at 22:00 local time so there is still plenty of time for it to improve again, although the road closures before the game are causing chaos, with journeys which should take five minutes taking 40.

It means, rather than the sounds of fans, the loudest noises are the constant car horns.

Besiktas Park is, thankfully, only a 15 minute walk from the main square and the fan park - which will house those fans who have travelled without tickets.

Around 20,000 Villa fans have travelled to Turkey, although the club's official ticket allocation was 10,758.

More are expected to be in the stadium on Wednesday - joining Prince William who is also due to attend - as they hope to watch Villa make history.

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Former Aston Villa striker Dion Dublin speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast earlier about Villa playing in the Europa League final tonight: "It's absolutely huge. I was at the club for six years. I was playing with Ginola, Merson and Southgate, some of the best players ever and we didn't really achieve anything either.

"The fans have had to wait a long time for any success at all, any trophies. Now it is here, with this group of players under one of the best managers this football club could ever get hold of. I think the balance between Unai Emery and Villa is a very, very good match. It works, they have given him full control. The players have got on board and look where they are, look at the players they have.

"Super John McGinn has been brilliant, Morgan Rogers, Ollie Watkins has found his form just in time for the England squad. Everything at Aston Villa is very good. I just want them to get over the line for the fans.

"Unai Emery will make sure that his boys are on it and that Villa are very hard to beat. When they are in possession and they are going forward trying to score goals, he makes sure that his team are solid at the back, just in case. That is so important, especially tonight, don't get caught on the break, don't get too giddy because we should win the game but please respect the opposition.

"I'm calling this Villa 3-1 in normal time. Ollie Watkins brace, Morgan Rogers far post header. I can't give you any more information than that. Villa bringing it home, just wait and see."

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German football broadcaster Constantin Eckner has given the lowdown on Freiburg before they face Aston Villa in the Europa League final on Wednesday evening.

"They finished seventh in the Bundesliga so they are at least qualified for the Conference league next season, but of course they want more," he told BBC Sounds' More than the Score podcast.

"The club is not known that well internationally but they were first promoted to the Bundesliga in 1993 and they are the proverbial underdogs in a sense. They are a small club from the south west of Germany near the German-French and German-Swiss border.

"They are a bit out of the centre of Germany but locally Freiburg are a major institution. The city itself has roughly 240,000 people living there while Freiburg as a club has 80,000 members.

"It is one of the 30 largest clubs in terms of memberships in the world, but many have not heard of them because it is quite a local affair. Up until this season they had never got past the round of 16 in European competition. In some years they fight against relegation, they have been relegated and promoted back to the Bundesliga on three occasions.

"People might not know that much about Freiburg but it is an intriguing club. For many years they always said they wanted to be one of the best 25 clubs in Germany. The Bundesliga is only 18 clubs, so they were even maybe content being in the second division and being in the best seven best teams there.

"With time, and more and more success, playing the Europa League in recent years, of course they want to achieve more and now they want to bring down Aston Villa in Istanbul."

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

For some it's about belting out tunes with pride and ferocity...

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For others it's the warm feeling of joy that comes on landmark days...

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And for many it's in simply sharing.... sharing that thing you love with the people you love too.

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Mike Taylor
BBC Radio WM reporter

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The best thing about doing the business last Friday is that this week does not have to be about business at all.

Perhaps, even if often in the background, football has always been about business, the field inevitably tilted a little towards the biggest and the richest. Now, though, every fan knows the price of every game, not just the emotional value. The Championship play-off final - won by Villa seven years ago - is the "richest game in football", every Premier League position is worth more prize money, Champions League qualification the ultimate jackpot.

There has been no escaping that the first order of business for Villa this season has been to secure a return to the Champions League, and the merit of being in the Europa League this season was to give them two realistic chances of hitting that target.

Arguably, Europe was the easier route. As a now-regular top-six contender in the Premier League, clearly the best-resourced domestic competition, it was right to have high expectations. Villa were universally billed as pre-season favourites for the tournament for sound reasons.

All the same, to reach this stage in such impressive style is a notable achievement and a measure of progress from two years ago, when Villa ran out of fuel in the closing laps of a brilliant season and broke down against Olympiacos. Managing the demands of the Europa League alongside a domestic programme that wears down even the strongest squads requires skill and careful judgement.

Beating Liverpool eased the tension that had built in the second half of the season as Villa's form rose and fell. With the overarching requirement now met, the final can now be enjoyed solely for the emotional value of occasion itself, not the cash value. So it should be.

For most fans, that would have happened anyway. While all understand and share the Champions League ambition, what they crave most now is the glory, the thrilling memory that only the moment your team lifts a major trophy can give. Many in Istanbul, to say nothing of thousands more watching on big and small screens in Birmingham and beyond, have never known that feeling.

That goes for some of the players too. Unai Emery, of course, has felt it many times. But just watch and listen to him speak about European football to be left in no doubt about his yearning to feel it again, and share it with his claret-and-blue disciples, tonight.

Listen to coverage of the Europa League final throughout today on BBC Radio WM

And tune into The West Midlands Football Phone-In from 18:00 on weeknights

Explore Aston Villa content on BBC Sounds

Nick Mashiter in Istanbul
Football reporter

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Unai Emery's worries could fade away in Istanbul.

The Aston Villa boss is ready for Wednesday's Europa League final against Freiburg, the culmination of a season which initially had him concerned.

A winless opening five games - scoring just once - ended with a Europa League victory over Bologna in September.

It was a stuttering three points, thanks to John McGinn's early goal, but it got Villa up and running and they won 17 of their next 19 games.

The biggest match of them all now comes at Besiktas Park against Freiburg, one which could end a 30-year wait for a trophy and create a lasting legacy for Villa and Emery.

His calmness and meticulous nature ensured Villa recovered but the 54-year-old believes the collective effort has shone through.

He said: "I was worried at the beginning. Really worried. I was always trying to find solutions in each moment. I needed the players, I needed the work we did and the reaction we did.

"We are here for it, but we did it together."

There are thousands of travelling Villa fans out in Istanbul to watch the Europa League final so we asked for your photos!

Keep sending us you pictures and messages via this form.

Here are some of your messages:

David Michael
Fan writer

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Aston Villa will play Champions League football again next season, regardless of what happens in Istanbul on Wednesday.

While the club's accounts department will welcome the Uefa prize money - which offers meaningful relief against the financial constraints that have shaped recent transfer windows - for supporters, the calculation is now entirely different.

Supporter discourse has been colonised by talk of PSR thresholds, Uefa wage-to-income ratios and amortisation. Conversations that belong in boardrooms have become the wallpaper of fan media, forums and social timelines.

Now, supporters can focus on what is really important as a football supporter.

• Send your images from Istanbul

Speaking in January 2024, Emiliano Martinez repeated what he had said when he first signed for the club: "We want to give fans a cup run, we want to give them the trophy, we want to give them Champions League football." Villa have delivered on most of it. Three deep European runs. Champions League football, with more to come next season.

The Europa League final against Freiburg will hopefully provide the missing link.

Thirty years have passed since Villa last lifted a trophy. The attempts at silverware since have been disappointing, summed up by the fact that Villa have only scored one goal from open play in four domestic finals since - a consolation by the largely forgotten Mbwana Samatta in the 2020 League Cup final against Manchester City.

For players like John McGinn, Ollie Watkins and Tyrone Mings, who have carried Villa through its best years in a generation, the final in Istanbul is a chance to crown their Villa careers.

Freiburg will be without Yuito Suzuki, their influential Japanese attacking midfielder who suffered a broken collarbone earlier this month. The loss of a player central to their European run should make the Germans more predictable and potentially less dangerous in open play.

Of course, with Unai Emery - who seeks an unprecedented fifth Europa League title - at the helm, you can't help but repeat the words of the late Ron Saunders, who built the last Villa team that achieved European glory: "Do you want to bet against us?"

Find more from David Michael at My Old Man Said, external

Nick Mashiter
Football reporter in Istanbul

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Aston Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez has spoken about last summer's transfer saga for the first time since it looked like he could leave Villa Park for Manchester United.

Martinez left the pitch in tears after Villa's final home game of last season against Tottenham 12 months ago, with the expectation it would be his last home game for the club.

He was left out of the squad for August's defeat by Crystal Palace 24 hours before the transfer deadline - yet, despite then-United boss Ruben Amorim's desire to take him to Old Trafford, United opted for Senne Lammens instead and Martinez remained at Villa.

"Well, I say goodbye and I cry when I left my family from Argentina to England as well," Martinez said.

"Sometimes football can change, managers can come in and go. You know, in football people move around the place. It doesn't mean that I don't have full respect for the club. I love the club.

"I have a commitment with Aston Villa. I am a World Cup winner with Aston Villa, I have won two Golden Gloves with Aston Villa. I will always and forever love this club.

"One day I am going to retire, so someone else will need to be between the sticks."

Martinez was speaking before Wednesday's Europa League final against Freiburg in Istanbul having helped Villa - who are fourth in the Premier League - qualify for the Champions League for the second time in three seasons.

Villa are aiming to end a 30-year trophy drought and win a first major European title since lifting the European Cup in 1982.

The 33-year-old Argentina international said: "I am in a European final and we have got Champions League again with all the circumstances that we have had and battles we have had this year. We are one of the lowest spenders in the Premier League.

"We have a top coach, a top captain and a decent core of the team. When we stick together and when we fight together, I think that we can beat anybody. I am really proud to stay - I made the right choice."

Aston Villa play in the Europa League final on Wednesday and we want to hear how you are gearing up for the momentous match in Istanbul.

Are you one of the 10,758 Villa fans with a ticket? Or will you be watching from home or a local pub? Keep sending us you pictures and messages via this form.

Here are some of your messages so far:

Chris: Just on a coach from Brum to Luton Airport and passed Villa Park on the way. Flying to Bulgaria this afternoon then a 5-6 hour drive to Istanbul. As an eight-year-old kid I had a family friend offer to take me to Rotterdam but my parents wouldn't allow it so I watched at home on TV in full Villa kit. Not missing out this time. Can't wait.

Gary: While vacationing in Marbella, I decided what the heck and bought a ticket to the game. Thankfully Turkish Airlines fly non-stop from Malaga to Istanbul. Catching a midday flight from Malaga to Istanbul on Wednesday, land at 5pm and making my way straight to the stadium. Hopefully meet up with some fellow Villa fans, watch the Villa win, quick celebratory party with the fans outside, then catch the shuttle back to the airport as my flight back to Malaga leaves at 7am on Thursday morning. Whirlwind time, but worth every penny. UTV.

Prit: In 1982 after Villa won the European Cup, Nigel Spink and a few others brought the trophy to the Cross Keys pub in Erdington (I was too young to go in those days). Somehow, we "lost" the trophy for a few hours before it was recovered. So I will be watching the match from the Cross Keys hoping Captain Fantastic John McGinn can lift the Europa League trophy! UTV.

Ian: I was in Rotterdam in 1982 - a never-to-be-forgotten night with history being made. Unfortunately, because of poor health I cannot make the trip to Istanbul but luckily one of my sons, Ed, will be there cheering the Villa boys on to more glory (hopefully)! I will be watching from home with rest of the family and if we can produce a performance similar to the Nottingham Forest or Liverpool games then I'm confident that the silverware will be coming back to Villa Park. Keep the faith and UTV.