Emiliano Martinez and Aston Villa's European Glory Quest

Emiliano Martinez stands on the brink of something Aston Villa have not tasted in three decades, and he knows exactly how close he came to watching it all unfold from somewhere else.

Last May, he walked around Villa Park in tears after the final whistle against Tottenham, waving as if it were a farewell tour. It almost was. The World Cup winner looked set for a new chapter, his emotional goodbye to the supporters feeling like the closing scene of a story that had run its course.

It didn’t end. It twisted.

Now, less than a year later, the same goalkeeper is one match away from becoming a European champion in claret and blue, as Villa prepare to face Freiburg in Istanbul on Wednesday in the Europa League final – their first shot at silverware in 30 years.

Martinez’s choice – and Villa’s reward

Martinez arrived at Villa in September 2020, a statement signing for a club trying to drag itself back into the elite. Since then he has become far more than just a reliable No 1. He has become a symbol.

He has the medals to prove it. A World Cup winner with Argentina. Two Golden Glove awards. And yet, when he talks about Villa, he frames those achievements through the club that gave him the platform.

“I had a commitment with Aston Villa, I am a World Cup winner with Aston Villa and I won two golden gloves,” he said, underlining exactly where he feels his career truly took off.

The bond is emotional as much as professional. He compared his tearful goodbye to the Villa fans last year to the moment he left his family in Argentina to move to England, a wrench that still shapes how he sees the game and the people around him.

“I will always and forever love this club no matter what,” he said. “Some day I’ll retire and someone else will go between the sticks.”

For now, though, nobody is taking his place. Not in this team. Not in this moment.

Emery, unity and a European dream

If Martinez is the heartbeat, Unai Emery is the architect.

“We have a top coach – we don’t wish to have anyone else on the bench apart from him leading us to a European final,” Martinez said, a clear endorsement of the man who has transformed Villa from a side flirting with the wrong end of the table into a team 90 minutes from European glory.

Emery’s Villa are built on structure and belief, but also on a fierce sense of togetherness. Martinez leans heavily into that.

“When we stick together and fight together we can beat anybody,” he said. “I am really proud to stay and I made the right choice.”

The right choice for him. The perfect outcome for Villa.

Penalties in his mind, 90 minutes in his hopes

Martinez’s reputation from 12 yards is already the stuff of modern football folklore. He knows it. Opponents know it. Penalty shoot-outs have become his stage.

“I always have shoot-outs in my mind,” he admitted. “It’s something I really enjoy, it’s like different competition, I don’t know how to explain it.”

He doesn’t want it to come to that in Istanbul. Not if John McGinn has anything to say about it.

“Hopefully ‘Ginny’ scores two goals and we finish in 90 minutes,” Martinez said, only half joking, before making it clear that if the final does go the distance, he will be ready. “If not I prepared and back myself every day of the week in shoot-outs.”

For Villa, that safety net is priceless. For Freiburg, it is a looming problem.

McGinn’s proudest walk

If Martinez is the defiant voice at the back, McGinn is the driving force in midfield and the emotional barometer of the fanbase.

The captain has lived almost every version of Aston Villa. He joined in 2018, fought through the Championship, helped drag the club back into the Premier League, and has been central to their rise under Emery. Ten goals in all competitions this season tell part of the story; his leadership tells the rest.

Asked if leading Villa out in a European final will be the proudest moment of his career, McGinn did not hesitate for long.

“I would say so, yeah,” he replied. “It has been a brilliant journey, full of ups and downs, close moments, very close to going back to the Championship.”

He knows how fine the margins have been. How fragile the climb. That is why this week feels so significant.

“It fills me with pride as to where the club is now and it also fills me with pride as to where this club could go,” he said, echoing Emery’s insistence that this should be a launchpad, not a one-off.

This is not a sightseeing trip. Not for McGinn. Not for Villa.

“This isn’t something we want to come here, celebrate and have a fanfare, we want to be focused on this match,” he stressed. “We know how difficult it is to get to a final.”

He paused only to bring it back to the personal, to the years of graft and doubt that led to this night in Istanbul.

“If you ask me on a personal level, throughout the years I have been here, definitely this is the proudest moment as captain here.”

One almost-farewell from Martinez. One long road from McGinn. One game in Istanbul.

Thirty years without a trophy hangs over Aston Villa. On Wednesday, they either carry that weight a little longer – or rewrite what this club believes it can be.