Jodee Brown
After a decade as a professional, Leon Bailey 🇯🇲 finally secured his first piece of team silverware, winning the UEFA Europa League with Aston Villa 🏴 after they beat Freiburg 🇩🇪 3-0 in the final on Wednesday.
With the triumph, Chippy is the first Reggae Boyz player ever to win a major European trophy. Bailey was an unused substitute in the Europa League final. However, he played in five knockout stage games for Villa, scoring once, after previously playing in the competition for Serie A club, AS Roma.
Villa’s Europa League triumph comes after they reached the UEFA Conference League semi-finals and UEFA Champions League quarterfinals in each of the last two seasons. Villa qualified for next season’s Champions League, having finished in the top five of the English Premier League.
Attention will turn to the offseason and likely discussions around Bailey’s future. Bailey was largely a substitute after injuries disrupted his loan move to Roma from the get-go. A slew of health setbacks limited Bailey to seven league appearances in Rome before the club cut his season-long loan short. Leon Bailey has 23 goals and 18 assists in all competitions since joining Villa in 2022 from Bayer Leverkusen. The 28-year-old winger is under contract until June of next year.
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