Freiburg 0-3 Aston Villa; Champions Of Europe, we know what we are!

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!

Beyond our wildest dreams, we have done it; finally our thirty year wait for silverware has come to an end courtesy of a special night in Istanbul, where Unai’s Villans completely dismantled Freiburg and scored three sensational goals. I don’t even know where to start, whether this was heard on the TV or not, all of the fans were singing “Austin McPhee ole ole!” and rightfully so. The man is a genius! All I ask next season is to bring in a defensive set piece coach, as I do not believe that is his forte (and neither do the statistics!).

I am going to format this in a different style. I am going to write this article about the game and then another article will come out soon and it will be titled something like “gallery” where I will post all the photos and descriptions, as there really is too much to do in this article! So that will be out soon for those who want to read.

The blood, sweat and tears of missing the flight and spending a total of an extra £1,000 for the four of us due to missing it were all worth it. It was all worth it just more tears, the ones that streamed down my eyes when that full time whistle was blown! I know it still hasn’t fully sunk in… that’s the best part.

Every player was faultless, I’d do player ratings but I’d give every player a ten no matter what! Buendia, what a goal. I got the goal on video and I am going to upload it to Youtube or a video sharing website and I’ll post the link in here shortly, and lots more videos. Tielemans, what a fantastic strike, and Rogers with a poachers finish.

We did exactly what I said we should do and that was completely restrict Freiburg and we will show our quality. We didn’t all out attack the game and I think that was Emery’s plan, we wanted to tire Freiburg out. I thought their only two threats were going to be set pieces and counter attacks. It was clear that they couldn’t play in sequences longer than a minute before they’d lose it, go back, or put the ball out of play, but I actually still think they are no mugs, and they could have scored against another mentality of Villa, but they were never going to win when we played the way we did, with the mindsets we all had.

It was fantastic to see Nassef and Wes on the pitch too, and Prince William in the stands of course! It just showed pure togetherness, and I would advise you all to read what Konsa wrote a few days ago. I think we have seen more personality from the manager too than we have ever seen, and I think this season has told us more about the ins and outs of Villa than we have known for god knows how long.

One thing I admired was giving Mings the last few minutes, and Sancho. It was also good to see Elliot lift the trophy, and make a little remark on social media about how much he contributed! I don’t think there is any bad blood there, and I genuinely think he is a nice lad but a bad deal all round. I hope he finds somewhere in the future, but I wouldn’t rule out him coming back to Villa on a better deal to be honest.

Anyways, we have finally done it – and I have finally seen us win a trophy.

Istanbul, you were incredible. All this stigma about Turkiye – I feel more safe in Istanbul than I do in London. Turkish police were fab. Letting us Villa fans drink and set off flares on the streets. The searches were not as rigorous as everyone makes out, in fact they are bigger in the UK. A well-run city that put its life on hold for an incredible fixture. Istanbul.

UP THE VILLA!