“We punished them! We will go down in history”

Article by Maria Olteanu – Published on Thursday, 21 May 2026, 00:16 / Updated on Thursday, 21 May 2026 00:21
Midfielder Youri Tielemans (29 years old) was the one who paved the way for Aston Villa's success in Europa League final with Freiburg, score 3-0, by which the English won the first European trophy after 43 years.
In the 41st minute of the clash in Istanbul, he took the ball perfectly, on the volley, with his right foot, after a cross from Rogers, and opened the scoreboard for the English, who scored once more before entering the booths through Buendia, in the third minute of extra time.
At the end of the match, directly from the field, Youri Tielemans reacted, wailed and became speechless.
“I feel amazing. I lost my voice but it was worth it. It was a great season and to end it with this is incredible. It was an up and down season, we started very badly, our results were poor. But we managed to turn things around and the credit goes to the players and the staff”he said, from the pitch, at the end of the Europa League victory, quoted by skysports.com.
Other reactions after the Europa League final
It's a great moment for the club. We will remain in history.
The coach kept telling me to get into the box more and score easier goals, so I'm glad I was able to touch the ball at that stage. I'm tired, but not that tired. Everything is worth it
– Morgan Rogers, Aston Villa midfielder
To have a performance like that was incredible. We controlled the game and punished them. I've watched a lot of finals and set pieces can be hugely important. Until the goal, the game was very balanced and tense, but we executed a great set piece, all respect to Austin MacPhee.
This is what you dream of. Unai was very calm before the match, sometimes in the championship he is a little more agitated. That set the tone
– Ollie Watkins, Aston Villa striker




