Aston Villa’s hopes in tatters after home defeat to Olympiacos

Aston Villa’s hopes of reaching a first European final since 1982 are in tatters after losing 4-2 in the first leg of their Europa Conference League semi-final against Olympiacos.

Villa, playing their biggest occasion in Europe since winning the European Cup 42 years ago, suffered a Greek tragedy as they crumbled on home soil.

Ayoub El Kaabi scored a hat-trick and Santiago Hezze’s deflected effort made it a memorable night for Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis’ side.

Hat - trick completed! ⚽⚽⚽ @AyoubElKaabi pic.twitter.com/uawawljRLE

— Olympiacos FC (@olympiacosfc) May 2, 2024

Villa looked primed to take control of the tie after goals either side of half-time from Ollie Watkins and Moussa Diaby had made it 2-2, but they capitulated to concede twice in 11 minutes.

Even then, they could have boosted their chances but Douglas Luiz missed a penalty in the final 10 minutes.

Unai Emery is chasing a fifth European trophy, but that now looks unlikely as his side must overturn a two-goal deficit in next week’s second leg in Athens.

And that will be a tall order given they have only won two of six European away ties so far this season and Olympiacos is a notoriously tough place to go.

No one was quite expecting exactly how frantic the game would be and the tone was set inside the opening 10 minutes.

Olympiacos goalkeeper Kostas Tzolakis made a fine save when he flung himself to his left and got fingertips on Morgan Rogers’ shot.

The hosts then had the ball in the back of the net when Leon Bailey nodded home from a corner, but Italian referee Marco Guida ruled it out for a foul by Clement Lenglet in the build-up.

Villa needed that to count as the tie looked like being taken away from them in a damaging 13-minute spell