European Leagues.

[An Watcher]

I dunno, I cant buy into these trophies.  The old UEFA Cup n even cup winners cup were much more prestigious

[AustinPowers]

Will the World Cup become the same?

Fans will need a subscription to watch the finals of the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League after TNT Sports decided against making them free-to-air. It will be the first time since the Champions League was launched in 1992 that supporters have had to pay to watch it

A good Tielemans goal gives Villa the lead.  2-0 another fine strike right before half time, Buendia.

Prince William fairly has Villa purring this year.

Imagine his dad showing that type of emotion? He has his late Mom's personality.

Villa 3-0 winners and a first trophy won since the league cup in 1996

Willie - man of the people

[Captain Obvious]

5th time Emery has won the Europa League and with 3 different clubs.  All 3 clubs have Villa in their name.

[Mourne Red]

I dunno, I cant buy into these trophies.  The old UEFA Cup n even cup winners cup were much more prestigious

Since the change to no champions league teams dropping down it's took some of the shine of the competition just in my own opinion.

Well done to Villa anyways

[square_ball]

I dunno, I cant buy into these trophies.  The old UEFA Cup n even cup winners cup were much more prestigious

Since the change to no champions league teams dropping down it's took some of the shine of the competition just in my own opinion.

Well done to Villa anyways

I was never a fan of the champions league teams dropping down anyway. Fail in one competition and then you're rewarded by being among the favourites to win the next best one.

It has definitely been diluted though. English teams are always huge favourites to win both this and conference league every season so it would have been a failure had Villa not won it. The only decent side they faced was Forest.

[RedHand88]

I dunno, I cant buy into these trophies.  The old UEFA Cup n even cup winners cup were much more prestigious

Since the change to no champions league teams dropping down it's took some of the shine of the competition just in my own opinion.

Well done to Villa anyways

I was never a fan of the champions league teams dropping down anyway. Fail in one competition and then you're rewarded by being among the favourites to win the next best one.

It has definitely been diluted though. English teams are always huge favourites to win both this and conference league every season so it would have been a failure had Villa not won it. The only decent side they faced was Forest.

The German, French and Spanish leagues are a lot more top heavy than the English league which has a good mid table who can go toe to toe with the big boys.

[gawa316]

Well done Villa, always had a soft spot for them after I mirrored my game on Tony Daley

[Milltown Row2]

Well done Villa, always had a soft spot for them after I mirrored my game on Tony Daley

Fast but no end result?

[Tony Baloney]

Well done Villa, always had a soft spot for them after I mirrored my game on Tony Daley

  how did that work out for you? Are you sure it wasn't Arthur?

[statto]

I dunno, I cant buy into these trophies.  The old UEFA Cup n even cup winners cup were much more prestigious

Excellent competitions.  The top 4 in the major leagues qualifying for the Champions League has had a knock on effect on the quality in the other European competitions.  Preferred when the Champions League was Champions only but that will never be changed at this stage. 

[shark]

I dunno, I cant buy into these trophies.  The old UEFA Cup n even cup winners cup were much more prestigious

Excellent competitions.  The top 4 in the major leagues qualifying for the Champions League has had a knock on effect on the quality in the other European competitions.  Preferred when the Champions League was Champions only but that will never be changed at this stage. 

Not sure on what basis the old Uefa Cup was more prestigious? It might be childhood nostalgia - and the fact that the final was on free to air TV, that's effecting perceptions.
Villa have been the 4th best team in the Premier League since Emery took over. That's exactly the type of team you'd expect to be winning the second tier European competition. Freiberg came 7th in Germany this year. Roma and Bologna are 4th and 8th in Serie A. Porto won Portugal. Lille 3rd in France. Feyenoord 2nd in Netherlands.
These are the teams who were in Europa this year.   
Who do we expect to be in it?
And when was the standard more prestigious? When Middlesborough made the final in 2006 while coming 14th in Premier League? The classic in Dublin in 2011 between Porto and Braga? Italian clubs dominated in the 90s - Parma for example won twice - but they never won Serie A. Very similar to Villa really, who won't win the Premier League.

[Milltown Row2]

Some gurning, there won't be one Villa fan complaining

The old Cup Winners cup and Uefa cup had plenty of shit teams in them also..

The purest want the to go back to the old ways, that aint happening, so it is what it is

[statto]

I dunno, I cant buy into these trophies.  The old UEFA Cup n even cup winners cup were much more prestigious

Excellent competitions.  The top 4 in the major leagues qualifying for the Champions League has had a knock on effect on the quality in the other European competitions.  Preferred when the Champions League was Champions only but that will never be changed at this stage. 

Not sure on what basis the old Uefa Cup was more prestigious? It might be childhood nostalgia - and the fact that the final was on free to air TV, that's effecting perceptions.
Villa have been the 4th best team in the Premier League since Emery took over. That's exactly the type of team you'd expect to be winning the second tier European competition. Freiberg came 7th in Germany this year. Roma and Bologna are 4th and 8th in Serie A. Porto won Portugal. Lille 3rd in France. Feyenoord 2nd in Netherlands.
These are the teams who were in Europa this year. 
Who do we expect to be in it?
And when was the standard more prestigious? When Middlesborough made the final in 2006 while coming 14th in Premier League? The classic in Dublin in 2011 between Porto and Braga? Italian clubs dominated in the 90s - Parma for example won twice - but they never won Serie A. Very similar to Villa really, who won't win the Premier League.

The Italian league was significantly stronger in the 90s than it would be now.  They had 7 winners in the 90s and a couple of all Italian finals. 

Parma, Inter, Juventus, Bayern Munich, Ajax all clubs that won the UEFA Cup in 90s but would be Champions League teams today given qualification is alot easier.  Ronaldo was the best striker in world when at Inter winning the competition in 1999.   

Well done Aston Villa on the win, McGinn comes across as a great guy so was glad to see them get over the line. 

[shark]

I dunno, I cant buy into these trophies.  The old UEFA Cup n even cup winners cup were much more prestigious

Excellent competitions.  The top 4 in the major leagues qualifying for the Champions League has had a knock on effect on the quality in the other European competitions.  Preferred when the Champions League was Champions only but that will never be changed at this stage. 

Not sure on what basis the old Uefa Cup was more prestigious? It might be childhood nostalgia - and the fact that the final was on free to air TV, that's effecting perceptions.
Villa have been the 4th best team in the Premier League since Emery took over. That's exactly the type of team you'd expect to be winning the second tier European competition. Freiberg came 7th in Germany this year. Roma and Bologna are 4th and 8th in Serie A. Porto won Portugal. Lille 3rd in France. Feyenoord 2nd in Netherlands.
These are the teams who were in Europa this year. 
Who do we expect to be in it?
And when was the standard more prestigious? When Middlesborough made the final in 2006 while coming 14th in Premier League? The classic in Dublin in 2011 between Porto and Braga? Italian clubs dominated in the 90s - Parma for example won twice - but they never won Serie A. Very similar to Villa really, who won't win the Premier League.

The Italian league was significantly stronger in the 90s than it would be now.  They had 7 winners in the 90s and a couple of all Italian finals. 

Parma, Inter, Juventus, Bayern Munich, Ajax all clubs that won the UEFA Cup in 90s but would be Champions League teams today given qualification is alot easier.  Ronaldo was the best striker in world when at Inter winning the competition in 1999.   

Well done Aston Villa on the win, McGinn comes across as a great guy so was glad to see them get over the line. 

Yep , and Inter came 8th in Serie A that season.
Very little has changed, when you actually look at it.
Just the relevant strength of the leagues

[RedHand88]

Emery has won the Europa league 5 times with 3 different clubs, all with "Villa" in the name.