SC Freiburg Vs Aston Villa [0–3] – UEFA Europa League Final 2025/2026 – Tactical Analysis

SC Freiburg and Aston Villa squared off in Istanbul on Wednesday with the UEFA Europa League trophy on the line. 

To say Unai Emery is familiar with this stage would be an understatement. 

The 54-year-old had previously won the Europa League four times, three with Sevilla, and one with Villarreal. 

Aside from the trophy, a spot in the Champions League next season was also on the line, which was much more important to Freiburg than it was to Aston Villa. 

Freiburg finished the Bundesliga season in seventh place and had never before qualified for the Champions League.

In fact, Freiburg have never won a major trophy in the club’s history. 

In the end, Unai Emery's side overcame Julian Schuster tactics to deliver Aston Villa an emphatic 3-0 win and the club’s first major trophy since winning the League Cup in 1996. 

In this Europa League Final tactical analysis, we will take a look at how Unai Emery used his build-up to create chances, Aston Villa’s success on set-pieces, and why Freiburg struggled to create any high-quality chances. 

SC Freiburg Vs Aston Villa Lineups & Formations

SC Freiburg Lineup Vs Aston Villa

Julian Schuster lined his team up in their usual 4-2-3-1 formation. 

Noah Atubolu started in the net behind the centre-back pairing of Matthias Ginter and Philipp Lienhart. 

Philipp Treu started at left-back, while Lukas Kübler started at right-back.

Nicolas Höfler and Maximilian Eggestein started together as the two defensive midfielders. 

Jan-Niklas Beste started at right wing, Johan Manzambi started as the ‘10’, while Vincenzo Grifo started at left wing.

Igor Matanović occupied his usual spot up top. 

Julian Schuster made five substitutions in the match.

In the 61st minute, Max Rosenfelder came on for Lienhart, and Lucas Höler came on for Höfler. 

In the 73rd minute, Derry Scherhant came on for Grifo, and Jordy Makengo came on for Kübler.

In the 79th minute, Schuster made his final substitution, bringing on Christian Günter for Beste.

Aston Villa Lineup Vs SC Freiburg

Unai Emery also lined Aston Villa up in a 4-2-3-1 formation. 

Emi Martínez started in goal behind centre-backs Ezri Konsa and Pau Torres. 

Lucas Digne started at left-back, while Matty Cash started at right-back.

Victor Lindelöf and Youri Tielemans started as the two defensive midfielders, with Emi Buendia at left wing, Morgan Rogers as the number ‘10’, and John McGinn at right wing. 

Ollie Watkins started as the striker. 

Unai Emery made five substitutions in the match.

In the 66th minute, Amadou Onana came on for Lindelöf. 

In the 81st minute, Jadon Sancho came on for Buendia, and Ian Maatsen came on for Digne. 

In the 88th minute, Emery made his final two substitutions, bringing on Tyrone Mings for Torres and Douglas Luiz for Tielemans.

Aston Villa Build-Up Tactics

Emery has shown greater willingness later in the season to play direct. 

Freiburg pressed Aston Villa high man to man all night long, so there were times when they had no choice but to play the ball over the top to use Freiburg’s pressure against them. 

Villa typically build up in a 4-2-4, with Martinez as the +1, with their usual goal of playing the ball wide and then finding one of the double-pivot midfielders back centrally to play right through the opposition. 

Here, Morgan Rogers drops into the pocket of space, and Martinez finds him over the top.

After a couple of passes, McGinn can play Watkins in behind and set up a decent cross into the box. 

Emery always puts a huge emphasis on playing through the middle of the opposition. 

Here, Digne inverts in the midfield to create a very narrow build-up structure with the two wingers providing the width. 

Recently, Emery has transformed Lindelöf into a midfielder, and it’s been working. 

He’s been brilliant on the ball, but also provides a great defensive option for when teams try to hit Aston Villa on the counter. 

As the match progressed, Emery kept trying to control the middle of the pitch, switching Aston Villa to a 3-2-3-2 build-up with Rogers roaming and looking for pockets of space. 

By controlling the middle with this patient buildup, they were able to maintain complete control over the match and neutralise any counterattacks from Freiburg through the middle, as they had so many players there to counterpress and stop the ball. 

Aston Villa finished the match with fewer total passes than Freiburg, but completed 31 more in the final third and also had 33 touches in the penalty area compared to only 12 for Freiburg. 

Aston Villa Set-Piece Tactics

Of the 17 shots that Aston Villa attempted in the final, seven came from set-pieces, and 0.9 of their 2.3 xG for the match came from them as well. 

Aston Villa’s set-piece coach, Austin MacPhee, is widely regarded as one of the best set-piece coaches in the Premier League and has even been brought on by Roberto Martínez to be Portugal’s set-piece coach at the World Cup. 

The opening goal was scored from a short corner and a brilliant use of overcrowding the six-yard box to create space for a shot from Tielemans. 

You can see that Aston Villa’s three biggest players pushed Freiburg’s defenders into the six-yard box to create a ton of space for Watkins to send in a cross. 

It was a brilliantly taken volley by Tielemans to find the left-hand corner and give Aston Villa the lead right before the half-time whistle. 

Aston Villa maintained a structure of three players in the six-yard box and three around the penalty spot, which gave them many variations to use. 

Here, Watkins, Torres, and Konsa block off their defenders to allow Onana a free run to the back post, where he almost puts it in the back of the net, hitting the post.