BERLIN, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Freiburg's wait for a first major trophy continued as Aston Villa struck twice before halftime and added a third after the break to win the Europa League final 3-0 at Besiktas Park in Istanbul on Wednesday.
Julian Schuster named an unchanged starting lineup that had beaten Braga in the semifinal, with Nicolas Hofler alongside Maximilian Eggestein in the double pivot and Johan Manzambi operating behind Igor Matanovic.
Unai Emery also kept faith with his lineup, and Villa was quicker to settle in the clubs' first ever meeting. Freiburg goalkeeper Noah Atubolu was tested inside three minutes by Morgan Rogers, while Ollie Watkins also appeared in a dangerous position in the Freiburg area without finding enough power to trouble the keeper.
The opening spell was played at high intensity, with referee Francois Letexier moving quickly to contain the challenges. Philipp Treu, Emiliano Buendia and Matthew Cash were all booked early, but clear chances were scarce until Hofler sent Freiburg's best first-half effort narrowly wide in the 17th minute.
Villa found the breakthrough from a short corner routine four minutes before the interval. Rogers' diagonal ball reached Youri Tielemans, who struck first time from 15 meters into the left corner.
Freiburg, competitive until then, was pushed back in the closing moments of the half. After several corners were not cleared, John McGinn shifted the ball to Buendia, who had room at the edge of the area and curled Villa's second into the top-left corner in stoppage time.
Freiburg returned after the break with purpose, but Villa defended the early pressure and left little space around their area. The decisive third came in the 58th minute, when Buendia advanced on the left and supplied Rogers, who forced the ball past Atubolu from close range.
The German side kept going but created little, while Buendia later chipped into the side-netting.
The defeat left Freiburg without the title and without a Champions League place. They will play in the Conference League next season.
"You have ups and downs, but we fought through it in the end. We have got Champions League football and now this, it is so special. All these fans, it is indescribable," Watkins said.
"There is no satisfaction. We lost a final, and that outweighs everything. It is very painful because we came here convinced that we could win today. Set-pieces made the difference," Freiburg coach Julian Schuster said. ■
