Freiburg boss Julian Schuster acknowledged Aston Villa have an "outstanding" squad, but he insisted that he was not nervous ahead of their Europa League final. 

Tupras Stadyumu is the venue for Wednesday's showpiece match, with Freiburg competing in their first European final, becoming the 16th German side to feature in one. 

Freiburg are the first German final debutants since Schalke in the 1996-97 UEFA Cup, who beat Italian giants Inter on penalties after a 1-1 aggregate draw over two legs.

In fact, this is only Freiburg's second major final, previously reaching the 2022 DFB-Pokal showpiece, drawing 1-1 with RB Leipzig before losing 4-2 on penalties. 

Schuster has enjoyed a successful two-year stint in charge of the club, having led them to a fifth-place finish in the Bundesliga last season, and he highlighted the journey Freiburg have gone on in recent years, having played in the second tier of German football as early as 2015-16. 

"Villa has an outstanding squad. It's incredible how they work in such harmony, and they have a clear plan in every individual phase of the match," Schuster told reporters.

"It will be a huge and great challenge for us tomorrow. It is very special. We've recently been in the second division and now are going to play a European final.

"I have so much confidence in my team, and they give me that belief because there's so much quality.

"I am not nervous, we have the confidence we need to play a great team and a great coach tomorrow."

Schuster's comments on Villa's squad are merited, with Unai Emery's men having already qualified for next season's Champions League before taking part in the final. 

And one of those standout players is Morgan Rogers, who ranks top for chances created (27), expected assists (3.3) and touches in the opposition box (65) in the Europa League this season. Since 2009-10, the only Englishman to create more chances in a Europa League campaign is James Milner in 2015-16 for Liverpool (31).

Villa are, however, also featuring in just their second major European final, winning 1-0 against Bayern Munich in the 1982 European Cup final. Only Manchester City have ever had a longer gap between their first two finals (1970 – 2021).

The Opta supercomputer has assigned the Villans an overwhelming 56.5% win probability in its 10,000 data-led simulations, while Freiburg are handed a 19.4% chance of victory.

That could be down to having Emery's record in this competition. The Spaniard has managed in five previous major European finals, all in the Europa League, winning four (2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16 with Sevilla, 2020-21 with Villarreal) and losing one (2018-19 with Arsenal).

With this Emery's sixth, he goes level with Carlo Ancelotti, Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho for major finals and behind only Giovanni Trapattoni (seven).

A victory would see Emery go level with Trapattoni, Ancelotti and Mourinho for major European final wins (five).

Freiburg midfielder Maximilian Eggestein is aware of Emery's achievements in the Europa League, but is paying the Spaniard's feats no mind. 

"We're aware that [Unai Emery] is the most successful coach in the history of the tournament, but that was with Sevilla and Villarreal, so we haven't analysed that – only his Aston Villa team is relevant to us," Eggestein said. 

"At the start of the competition, we didn't think we might end up playing in the final. It just happened that way. As the season went on, we started to believe that we could do it.

"We're very proud to be here, and we hope we can take that final step tomorrow and make our city very proud."