Freiburg vs Aston Villa Europa League final preview, team news and prediction

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Favourites Aston Villa and surprise package Freiburg will both chase glory on Wednesday night in Istanbul in the Europa League final. Villa are bidding to end a 30-year wait for major silverware, while Freiburg’s own drought stretches back more than a century.

Unai Emery's side are the unsurprising bookies' favorite at 8/13 with BetGoodwin, while the Bundesliga side are 4/1 to pull a shock with Sky Bet, and a draw after 90 minutes is 11/4 with Paddy Power . You can also find more betting offers at the Mirror Betting Hubs Free Bets offers .

After reaching the Conference League semi-finals in 2024 and the Champions League quarter-finals last season, Villa now want the next step: a first European trophy for a generation. Decades on from their famous triumph over Bayern Munich to become champions of Europe, the Midlands club are again up against German opposition, this time with the Europa League on the line.

Their route to Istanbul has been impressive. Villa won all but one match in the league phase to finish second, then brushed aside Lille and Bologna before a semi-final meeting with Nottingham Forest. Forest struck first in the all-English tie, but Unai Emery’s side responded with a statement performance at Villa Park. Captain John McGinn scored the final two goals in a commanding 4-0 second-leg win, reigniting dreams of a first major trophy since 1996.

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A 2-2 draw with Burnley followed, but Villa then produced ideal final preparation by putting four past Liverpool on Friday. The win moved them into fourth place and secured Champions League qualification with a game to spare, allowing full focus on Wednesday’s showpiece.

They start as favourites on form as well as reputation: since the beginning of 2023-24, no club has won more European matches than Villa (26), and only Arsenal have kept more clean sheets (19 to Villa’s 16). Emery, a four-time Europa League winner, is also closing in on another milestone, set to become only the second coach to reach UEFA finals with four different clubs after Jose Mourinho. Having just claimed the 600th win of his managerial career — his 107th with Villa — one more would cement his legacy in claret and blue.

Freiburg, by contrast, are chasing a first major trophy of any kind, 122 years after the club was founded. Building on the foundations laid by Christian Streich, who led them from 2011 to 2024, Julian Schuster has overseen a Europa League run beyond anything the Black Forest club have previously managed. Unbeaten in their first seven league-phase games, Freiburg then began piling up goals in the knockouts.

They beat Genk 5-2 on aggregate, thrashed Celta Vigo 6-1 overall in the quarter-finals and then edged past Braga in the semis. A 2-1 first-leg defeat in Portugal left them behind, but an early red card for Braga in the return leg shifted the balance. Goals from Lukas Kübler and Johan Manzambi put Freiburg in control, and even after Braga pulled one back late on, the Germans held firm to reach a historic final.

Freiburg’s firepower has driven the run. They have scored at least three goals in four of their six knockout matches, taking them to 25 for the campaign — bettered only by Villa’s 28. They were at it again last weekend with a 4-1 win over RB Leipzig, sealing seventh place in the Bundesliga and a Conference League spot for next season.

That qualification could be upgraded to a first-ever Champions League berth with victory in Istanbul, but for Freiburg, lifting silverware at last would mean more than anything else.

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With doubts persisting over Amadou Onana’s fitness - he hasn’t featured since hobbling off in the semi-final first leg in Nottingham - Unai Emery may again deploy Victor Lindelof as a makeshift midfielder for Wednesday’s final. However, Lindelof was forced off with a foot issue on Friday, meaning Douglas Luiz or Lamare Bogarde could be drafted in instead. Ross Barkley is ineligible, while Boubacar Kamara has been ruled out for the rest of the season.

Further forward, several Villa players are hitting top form. Ollie Watkins continued his scoring streak by netting twice against Liverpool and leads Villa’s tally in this continental campaign with five goals. Emi Buendia has contributed eight goal involvements in 11 Europa League starts, while Morgan Rogers tops the charts this season for both chances created (27) and touches in the opposition box (65).

Freiburg will be without Yuito Suzuki after he fractured his collarbone, and Patrick Osterhage remains a doubt, but Julian Schuster is otherwise expected to have his key players available. Club record scorer Vincenzo Grifo has registered at least one goal involvement in each of his last five European outings, while Croatian striker Igor Matanovic took his Bundesliga tally to 11 with a goal last weekend.

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