How Barry Bannan reacted to Aston Villa winning Europa League | OneFootball

The former Villa man was one of many left congratulating Unai Emery's side on Wednesday night

The Championship season didn't exactly go as fully planned for Barry Bannan, but he was at least able to see one of his former clubs lift silverware on Wednesday evening.

Indeed, Aston Villa became the latest winners of the UEFA Europa League as they cruised past German Bundesliga outfit, SC Freiburg at Besiktas Park in Istanbul.

The Birmingham outfit had previously gone 30 years without winning any form of major trophy until their midweek triumph, as you would have to go back to the EFL Cup final success over Leeds United at the old Wembley to see images of any Villa Park heroes with silver of such importance in their grasps.

Unsurprisingly, after they sealed qualification for next season's UEFA Champions League with an entertaining 4-2 win over Liverpool in B6 on Friday, the Premier League's fourth-placed team were made huge favourites to win the final, especially under the management of Unai Emery, who has now won the Europa League five times in his career.

Villa and their supporters have certainly been on an emotional rollercoaster in recent times, as they were relegated to the Championship for the first time in 28 years exactly a decade ago, before taking three years to leave the EFL through a play-off triumph at Wembley Stadium over Derby County.

That success under Dean Smith started their current rise to stardom, with John McGinn joining Dennis Mortimer and Ken McNaught as the third Villans captain to lift a European trophy after a 44-year wait.

Bannan, of course, started his career at Villa Park as a youngster before breaking into the first team and eventually moving on to several new challenges.

And, although his current employers, Millwall, missed out on the chance to play against the Midlands side next season, he was still full of praise for his old club.

Barry Bannan issues four-word reaction after Aston Villa's UEFA Europa League triumph

Ironically, the 36-year-old's professional debut for Villa came in the exact same competition in 2009, albeit the round of 32 defeat to Lokomotiv Moscow was met with major criticism at the time due to a youthful team selection from Martin O'Neill as the club attempted, and ultimately, failed to reach the Champions League through a top-four finish.

Bannan went on to make 82 appearances for Villa in all competitions between then and September 2013, when he moved to Crystal Palace, before a well-documented 477-game spell at Sheffield Wednesday in extremely dramatic circumstances which ended in emotional fashion earlier in 2026 due to the Owls' now-resolved financial difficulties.

Youri Tielemans, Emi Buendia and Morgan Rogers were the three goalscorers for Emery's side in Türkiye in midweek, and the squad is set to celebrate their latest trophy success with a bus parade through Birmingham on Thursday evening.

Taking to his Instagram story after watching the match on television, Bannan issued a simple, but effective four-word reaction of "well done Aston Villa," followed by three clapping emojis.

After their win against Freiburg, Villa round off their top-flight campaign against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, and will also take part in the UEFA Super Cup against one of Arsenal or Paris Saint-Germain in Salzburg on 12th August.

Aston Villa fans will be proud of Barry Bannan's career achievements elsewhere

Although the majority of the Scot's senior career has been spent away from Villa Park, those in the Second City have certainly reciprocated Bannan's appreciation towards his first club throughout time.

Indeed, the experienced figure received plenty of praise for his conduct at Hillsborough during a testing time for Sheffield Wednesday prior to his switch to Millwall, albeit the Lions missed out on a place in the upcoming Championship play-off final to Hull City on May 11th.

However, reports have since emerged stating that he could be on his way back to the Steel City as Henrik Pedersen looks to conduct an immediate rebuild in League One following the club's takeover by American investor, David Storch, and his partners at the start of the month.