Youri Tielemans eager to replicate final heroics with Aston Villa

Youri Tielemans is hungry to be a Europa League hero with Villa - five years on from being Leicester’s FA Cup match-winner.

The Belgium international scored one of the most memorable cup final goals of recent years to fire the Foxes past Chelsea at Wembley in 2021.

On Wednesday he gets the chance to end his wait for the next major trophy when Villa face Freiburg in the Europa League final in Istanbul.

Emery’s men can become the first Villa team in 30 years to win silverware and Tielemans said: “Winning a cup is always special.

“In that final in 2021 I think we had the fans back for the first time (since the pandemic), in the lower tier of Wembley, so it still felt like a great atmosphere and a good moment.

“It will feel different on Wednesday, for sure, because I’m with a different club and it’s a European final which is different to a domestic cup. But hopefully both will be great moments.

“Does it make you hungry for more? Yeah, definitely. You always want to have great success and win trophies wherever you play, that’s the aim.

“Other than that you want to be part of a good team and I think we are.

“For me personally I would feel amazing, very proud, but we have to get there first.”

Villa are looking to crown an excellent season which has already seen them secure a top-five Premier League finish and a place in next year’s Champions League.

It has been achieved despite a poor start which saw them fail to win any of their first six matches of the campaign.

Tielemans says players never doubted they would be able to turn things around, with a 1-0 win over Bologna in their first Europa League fixture last September sparking a run of 18 victories in 22 games.

The 29-year-old explained: “I think it was more about belief in our qualities. We know we could do better and we realised straightaway.

“We know how good a team we are, we have a lot of good players and we knew once we clicked that, we’d be gone.

“After five games I think in the league, I think the Europa League actually kickstarted our season because we got that win against Bologna and from there on we just won practically every game and it just clicked.

“We didn’t doubt (ourselves). There were concerns about our form that we didn't have to hide from.

“But it was more about putting in the work, keep doing what we do and going back to the basics and then, yeah, just keep going: ‘The win is going to come’.”

Villa reached the final in their third season playing in Europe under Emery and Tielemans added: “Every year has been different, obviously with this team we’re doing something amazing, the last three season: first in the Conference League, Champions League and this season the Europa League, and we’ve got to the final. It is a big achievement.

“I’m looking forward to it, it’s going to be hopefully a good night for us, we’re going to have to enjoy the moment and hopefully try and win a trophy.”