Europa League final: Aston Villa bidding to extend 51-year streak against Freiburg in Istanbul showdown

Aston Villa will be bidding to extend a 51-year streak when they play Freiburg in the Europa League final.

The Premier League and Bundesliga clubs lock horns in Istanbul on Wednesday night as they bid to lift European football's second-tier trophy.

While Villa have already secured Champions League qualification for 2026-27, Unai Emery is bidding to further improve an astonishing personal record in the Europa League.

However, Freiburg have a number of players who have the potential to make the difference in Turkey, three of which that have been identified by Sports Mole.

Should Villa be able to prevail at the Tupras Stadium, which is the home of Besiktas, they will be extending a remarkable run that has lasted since the 1974-75 campaign.

What streak can Aston Villa extend against Freiburg?

This will be the first time since Bayern Munich faced Chelsea in the 2012 Champions League final that an English and German side have played each other in a major European final.

English clubs have emerged victorious from eight of those 10 showpieces. Furthermore, a German team has not prevailed since Bayern beat Leeds United in the 1975 European Cup final.

Villa and Manchester United overcoming Bayern in the 1982 and 1999 European Cup finals are the most famous occasions of English teams winning such fixtures.

Last season, Villa defeated Bayern and RB Leipzig in the League Phase of the Champions League. However, they lost their previous fixture against German opposition - to Hamburg in the 2008-09 UEFA Cup - before that double-header.

Meanwhile, Freiburg's only experience of facing English opposition is four games against West Ham United in the 2023-24 Conference League.

They lost both group-stage fixtures and the second leg of their last-16 tie, with their only victory being a 1-0 success in the first leg in Germany.

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