Aston Villa has reached the Europa League final, and it is the first time this has happened in 44 years – the last appearance was in the final act of the 1981/82 European Cup, winning 1-0 against Bayern Munich. Impossible, inevitable, not to think that the credit is all – or almost – to Unai Emery: the Spanish coach has changed the history of the Birmingham club, we have been saying this for years, bringing it back to the center of English and continental football. We could really write dozens of articles on his impact, but in this case we will limit ourselves to a purely statistical observation regarding the Europa League. Which, as the numbers testify, is a kind of personal playground for the Basque coach.
Let’s start with the raw figures: in nine “complete” participations in the Europa League, that is, every time he has remained in charge of his team until the end of the competition and the season, Emery has reached the quarter-finals twice (Valencia 2009, when it was still called the UEFA Cup, and 2010), once the semi-finals (Valencia 2012) and six times the final (Sevilla 2014, 2015 and 2016, Arsenal 2019, Villarreal 2021 and Aston Villa 2026). In the end, Emery has won the trophy four times, three with Sevilla and one with Villarreal, and this alone is an absolute record (before him, Trapattoni had “stopped” at three titles). The other absurd thing, if we reread this history, is the progression: since 2014, whenever Emery participates in the Europa League until the end, he ends up winning it. Or, at worst, he reaches the final.