Aston Villa celebrated a Europa League victory in Istanbul late into the morning, marking the club’s first trophy in three decades. Players returned to their hotel after celebrations near Besiktas Park, with Matty Cash toasting in a stadium basement. Unai Emery was praised as a central figure, while John McGinn joked about Prince William joining the dressing-room beers. Billionaire co-owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens attended, with Sawiris expressing pride in Emery delivering promised silverware. Emery referenced the club’s ambition, saying the sky’s the limit. Villa had outclassed Freiburg in the final and planned an open-top bus parade after returning to England.
"It was 1.43am in Istanbul when Aston Villa's players began to make tracks for their hotel, over the road from the rubber ring-like Besiktas Park. Matty Cash walked into a windowless basement at the stadium, bottle of Efes in hand, and toasted a Europa League victory that will be etched in history, the club's first trophy in three decades."
"The king set the gameplan out for us, he said of Unai Emery, who, if he was not there already, now has a god-like status among the fans. Moments earlier, John McGinn joked that Prince William, who joined the players for beers amid the dressing-room celebrations, might get his credit card out and stump up for a free bar."
"Villa's billionaire co-owners, Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens, were also in attendance, the former delighted that Emery had delivered on his promise to put another piece of silverware in a trophy cabinet that had been gathering dust. It means a lot, Sawiris said, wearing a Villa scarf. I can't express myself with words. Amazing. Very special. An eight-year ride and we saw today what hard work can do with Unai's effort and the whole team."
"Asked what's next, there came a reminder of Villa's ambition. The sky's the limit, he replied. Emery had spent the previous three and a half years walking past the European Cup, lifted by Dennis Mortimer in 1982, that sits round the corner from his office at the club's Bodymoor Heath training base. Nigel Spink, one of the heroes in Rotterdam and among the former players present for Wednesday's final, had said it was about time that the trophy moved along the mantelpiece."
Read at www.theguardian.com
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