Aston Villa’s long European exile ended in a blaze of claret and blue in Istanbul, as Unai Emery’s side swept Freiburg aside 3-0 to lift the Europa League and claim the club’s first continental trophy in 44 years.

On a night already heavy with history, Villa delivered a performance of ruthless control. Youri Tielemans opened the scoring with the composure of a serial winner, before Emiliano Buendia and Morgan Rogers added the gloss, their goals turning a tense final into a procession.

The most remarkable story, though, belonged to Emiliano Martinez. The goalkeeper fractured a finger in the warm-up yet refused to step aside. Strapping it up, he played through the pain, made two sharp saves and preserved a clean sheet. It extended his extraordinary record in finals: seven played, seven won, across Arsenal, Argentina and now Villa.

When the final whistle went, the celebrations underlined just how far this club has travelled. Among the jubilant players in the dressing room was Prince William, Aston Villa’s most famous supporter, sharing beers and congratulations. Defender Matty Cash revealed the future king “was in there having a beer with us” and described him as a genuine, long-standing fan who “deserves moments like these.”

For captain John McGinn, the triumph was both catharsis and catalyst. He spoke of the “pain” the club and its supporters have endured and insisted this is only the beginning. With Emery at the helm, McGinn dared to look higher, openly targeting the Champions League as Villa’s next frontier.

Emery, the master of this competition, now owns a fifth Europa League crown, joining the elite company of Carlo Ancelotti, Jose Mourinho and Giovanni Trapattoni in the pantheon of European serial winners. Yet he rejected any notion that this was a destination. The Spaniard framed the victory as a staging post, the product of hard lessons from previous semi-final defeats and a platform for greater ambitions.

For a club once marooned in mid-table and haunted by its own past, Istanbul felt like a turning point. A broken finger, a royal toast and a gleaming European trophy: Aston Villa are back among the continent’s elite, and they are already talking about the Champions League.