Europa League Performance Insights: Unai Emery masterclass secures title for Aston Villa
Friday, May 22, 2026
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UEFA Technical Observer Gaizka Mendieta explains how Aston Villa's potent mix of attacking flexibility, defensive rigour and set-play prowess triumphed in Istanbul.
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"The manager prepared the game to perfection." Emiliano Martínez's snap assessment on Aston Villa's 3-0 victory in the UEFA Europa League final in Istanbul paid tribute to winning coach Unai Emery's magic touch. The Argentinian goalkeeper also hailed the role of assistant coach Austin MacPhee for the set-play prowess that led to the crucial opening goal and merited examination in the initial analysis of this match.
In this article, UEFA Technical Observer Gaizka Mendieta – working with the UEFA game insights unit – delves deeper into how Aston Villa's adaptable and controlled performance in open play brought a record fifth Europa League title for the celebrated Basque coach.
In an opening half hour described by Villa striker Ollie Watkins as "cagey", Freiburg deployed a man-to-man approach to limit Villa's capacity to build attacks.
Martínez leads from the back
Villa turned to Martínez to lead the way from the back to overcome the 1v1 defending. "Villa's game plan was to create space for the long ball or maybe start short by playing from Martínez," explained Mendieta. "They wanted the two strikers to go up against their individual markers, using Martínez's ability with his feet."
Mendieta identified a common structure for Villa in the build-up. "The starting positions were usually the same," he said. "They built with the strikers pushing high, one wing might be opened up, with wide players coming inside, and with good movements from the central midfielders. The trigger when players are all set up is perhaps having a player in a certain area which determines if they play long or go short, through the middle or to the outside."
As the clips in the first video below show, "when the goalkeeper is not pressed, he has the time to find the pass he wants".
"They were a team that play man to man. We have loads of good players up front who can hold the ball, run in behind. I wanted to turn them [by kicking long] so we could play short a bit more."
The first clip illustrates how Villa were happy for Martínez to remain on the ball and utilise a mixed approach. We see centre-back Victor Lindelöf, deployed in a holding midfield role by Emery, dropping deep to escape his marker and help progress play. This is followed by Martínez going direct.
In the second clip, we see Martínez in possession for nearly 17 seconds in a game of cat and mouse as Villa seek a trigger to attack. In the end, he goes long and gives his side a chance to enter the final third.
Mixing it up
This flexibility in possession enabled Villa to probe for weaknesses in Freiburg's structure in the early stages.
But the game changed with Youri Tielemans' outstanding strike from a well-worked corner in the 41st minute. With Villa in the ascendancy, a spell of composed possession after another corner then led to Emiliano Buendía doubling the lead on the stroke of half-time.
As the graphic above illustrates, Martínez continued to have a key influence in varying the route of Villa's attacks.
Mendieta hailed the "importance of timing" in Villa's approach. The first clip in video two below illustrates the synchronisation between players. "As Villa are playing through the press, the winger [Buendía] comes in and makes a circular run to take the right-back out of position. He is pointing and aware of exactly what he is doing. This creates space for Tielemans to pick up the ball with the whole pitch in front of him."
Mendieta emphasised the importance of game intelligence for strikers too. "It's vital they time their runs," he said. "They need to hold positions high to stretch the game for as long as possible so they don't bring opponents into the middle and kill the space. For all attacking players, this is a key skill. With Freiburg marking 1v1, the big advantage to be gained is taking the marker from the space you are creating for someone else."
The second clip shows Villa sealing the victory with a flowing move started by Martínez that exploits numerical overloads and changes in tempo to find Europa League Player of the Season Morgan Rogers at the near post to finish smartly.
How Villa locked the door
"Villa showed great understanding of all the different options in attack," said Mendieta. "But they are also an incredibly well-coached team without the ball too."
The graphic above illustrates the positions taken up by Villa's players in a "clear 4-4-2 block" that restricted Freiburg to an xG of 0.06 in the second half.
"Whether in a mid-block or low, Villa's defending was always solid," Mendieta said. "They neutralised Freiburg's attack with a lot of emphasis on every player being involved in the block, leaving no spaces between the lines. They defended as a team."
The final video shows three examples as Freiburg tried to get back into the game after the break.
Mendieta praised the compact block for "forcing Freiburg to play on the outside" through a combination of discipline, collective movement and coordinated reactions. Clip two offers a showcase of Lindelöf's defensive instincts as a midfielder protecting the back line.
This was an asset flagged up by Emery after the game. "The midfield is very important to keep balance," he explained. "We have players with different profiles in midfield, defensively and offensively, but the commitment to play and do everything we need was very important."
Coaching focus: Emery's coaching lessons
Speaking after breaking new ground as the first coach to win the UEFA Cup/Europa League trophy with three different clubs, Unai Emery dismissed talk about him regaining his crown as "the king" of the competition and chose instead to focus on the power of learning.
"My message always is with the process," he said. "We are demanding. We should be ambitious. We want hard work. And to compete."
For the watching UEFA Technical Observer Group, the final offered further proof of Emery's impeccable credentials as an elite coach.
"Emery is incredible," said former Slovenian international Zlatko Zahovič. "His strategy is to fully prepare for his own team, and for the opposition. In this game, he managed to control both his own players and the tactics of the opposition." Zahovič likewise paid tribute to Emery's "process" on the training ground: "I went to see his training sessions. It's the best I've ever seen."
Willi Ruttensteiner added that Emery's approach offers lessons for coaches about their role before and during matches. "Emery excels in three areas," he said. "Excellent preparation in training, match planning for specific opponents and unbelievable coaching control. On top of this, he is a true leader on the side of the pitch. He never panics; his emotional control transfers to his team."
The key for Wayne Allison is in the repetition of small-sided games in training to expose players to the situations they will experience on matchdays. "All the principles are the same," he noted. "With Emery, in the 4-4–2, it's a simple system understood by the players. The principle of forcing the opponent out wide is the same, no matter 3v3, 5v5 or 11v11. This is the process of learning. He has the clarity and communication skills to give the players huge belief in what they are doing."
For Mixu Paatelainen, the proof is in the pudding. "Emery is wonderful at gaining trust," he said. "The results prove to the players he is talking sense. That creates the togetherness in the team."
The verdict on Emery's coaching recipe
- Excellent preparation: repetition of exercises and principles
- Consistency: familiar system as a base to attack in multiple ways
- Coaching control: strategies to control and exploit the opponent
- Clarity and communication: gains trust of players through seeing earlier results
- Delegation: leads but empowers others with specific expertise
A two-time UEFA Champions League runner-up with Valencia, midfielder Gaizka Mendieta also played in Italy and England and was capped 40 times by Spain. Since hanging up his boots in 2008, the former Barcelona player has been doing media work and a spot of DJing.
Zlatko Zahovič represented Slovenia 80 times, scoring a record 35 goals. He was also the first Slovenian footballer to feature in the UEFA Champions League, finding the net 11 times. After retiring, he enjoyed success as NK Maribor's sporting director.
Willi Ruttensteiner established himself as a senior coach and youth expert in Austrian football, culminating in a six-year stint as Austria Under-21 boss from 1999 onwards. He was the Austrian national association's sporting director from 2001–17, and subsequently sporting director, then coach, of Israel.
After a 20-year playing career in England, Wayne Allison took behind-the-scenes coaching jobs before gaining a doctorate for his work on how high-intensity exercise effects decision-making in football. He is currently coaching director at PGMOL, the body for England's professional referees.
After a successful playing career as a striker in Scotland and England, the 70-times capped Finnish international Mixu Paatelainen moved into coaching. He took the reins at Hibernian, Kilmarnock and Dundee United and has also coached the Finland, Latvia and Hong Kong national teams.
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