Aston Villa beat Freiburg 3:0 in Istanbul on Wednesday evening in the Europa League final at the Tüpraş Stadium and ended a 44-year wait for a European trophy. The last time the Birmingham club lifted a European cup was in the European Cup in 1982, in an era when half of today's squad hadn't yet been born.

Unai Emery won his fifth Europa League trophy of his career and set a benchmark no manager before him has reached. The Spanish strategist showed once again that he understands this competition better than anyone else in Europe.

Freiburg pushed forward in the first half and Igor Matanovic had a chance with a header, but he didn't find the goal. At the other end Morgan Rogers ran into a wall in keeper Noah Atubolu. By the 41st minute the first goal was still being waited for.

Then Youri Tielemans arrived. The Belgian cut into a cross from Rogers and volleyed it into the bottom corner - a classic final goal. Before half-time, Emiliano Buendia doubled the lead for 2:0 with a curling shot from the edge of the box after a John McGinn pass.

In the second half, Rogers buried it for 3:0 in the 57th minute, outrunning his marker and finishing a low cross from Buendia. He became the youngest Englishman to score in a major European final since Steven Gerrard did it for Liverpool in 2001 - a 25-year gap.

Emiliano Martinez saved several dangerous situations towards the end, sealing the win. For a Balkan audience, this is the story of a manager who knows how to handle silverware and of a team that waited more than four decades to see something like it.