The Unai Emery Europa League record that puts him alongside pantheon of managerial greats | OneFootball

Unai Emery has joined an elite group of European managers after guiding Aston Villa to Europa League success.

Tonight saw the Spaniard become only the fourth manager to win five European trophies after Giovanni Trapattoni, Carlo Ancelotti and Jose Mourinho.

Here is how Emery did it.

Unai Emery

The 54-year-old Basque has extended his record of Europa League wins as a manager to five following his previous successes with Sevilla (2014, 2015, 2016) and Villarreal (2021). He is only the second manager to win a single major European tournament at least five times, after Ancelotti, while his six finals – he was a Europa League runner-up with Arsenal in 2019 – matches Ancelotti, Sir Alex Ferguson and Mourinho and ranks behind only Trapattoni. Emery is also the first manager to win the UEFA Cup or Europa League with three different clubs.

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(Alex Grimm/Getty Images)

Giovanni Trapattoni

Former Italy and Republic of Ireland boss Trapattoni, 87, reached a record seven major European club finals as a manager, winning five. He guided Juventus to European Cup glory in 1985 and won the Cup Winners’ Cup (1984), plus the UEFA Cup on two occasions (1977 and 1993) with the Turin giants. He also won the UEFA Cup with Inter Milan in 1991. He lost the 1974 Cup Winners’ Cup final as interim manager of AC Milan to Magdeburg and his Juve side were beaten by Hamburg in the 1983 European Cup final.

Carlo Ancelotti

Brazil head coach Ancelotti is the only manager to win the Champions League five times, securing the trophy twice with AC Milan (2003, 2007) and on three occasions with Real Madrid (2014, 2022, 2024). The 66-year-old also led Milan to the 2005 Champions League final where they lost out to Liverpool on penalties.

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Ancelotti has won the Champions League a record five times (Nick Potts/PA)

Jose Mourinho

The 63-year-old won the UEFA Cup with first club Porto in 2003 and steered them to Champions League glory in 2004 before winning Europe’s premier club competition for a second time with Inter Milan in 2010. Mourinho also triumphed in the Europa League with Manchester United in 2017 and won his fifth European trophy while in charge of Roma, who lifted the inaugural Conference League in 2022. The Portuguese appeared in his sixth major European final when Roma lost on penalties to Sevilla in the Europa League showpiece in 2023.