Olympiacos created history by reaching the Europa Conference League final. football news

Olympiacos will face Fiorentina in the Europa Conference League final after making history with a 2-0 win against Aston Villa in the semi-final second leg on Thursday. José Luis Mendílibar’s team won with a 6–2 aggregate score thanks to a double from Villa mainstay Ayoub El Kaabi, who had scored a hat-trick in the first leg. On a raucous night at the Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus, Olympiacos, a record 47-time champion of Greece, made its first appearance in a major European final.

The only other Greek club to reach a European final was Panathinaikos, who were defeated by Ajax in the 1971 European Cup Final.

Adding to the sense of destiny for Olympiacos, they will face Italian side Fiorentina on May 29 at the AEK Arena, home of one of their local rivals and just 10 miles from their own stadium in Athens.

Mendilibar only took charge in February, but the Spaniard, who was sacked by Sevilla in October, has already made himself an Olympiacos icon by achieving a major feat for Greek football.

Under the ownership of Evangelos Marinakis, who also runs Premier League strugglers Nottingham Forest, Olympiacos had failed to get out of the group stage 14 times in 16 attempts in Europe before this season.

If Olympiacos can win the first European trophy in their 99-year history, it would be an achievement to rival Greece’s shocking Euro 2004 win.

It’s shaping up to be a golden year for Olympiacos, whose under-19 team won the UEFA Youth League final against AC Milan in April.

After losing last season’s Europa Conference League final against West Ham, Fiorentina returned to the showpiece by beating Club Brugge 4-3 in the other semi-final on Wednesday.

Relentless Olympiacos

Villa’s exit was a painful conclusion to their bid to reach a European final for the first time since 1982.

Competing in Europe after a 13-year absence, Villa must overcome this setback to refocus their effort to qualify for next season’s Champions League by finishing in the top four in the Premier League.

Fourth-placed Unai Emery’s side are seven points ahead of fifth-placed Tottenham with three games in hand compared to Villa’s two.

Emery said, “Olympiacos deserves to reach the final. We lost in the first 90 minutes at home. We started well this time, but they scored and we were not clinical.”

“These are great experiences for us but it is difficult to win in these competitions, whether it is the Champions League or the Conference League.

“We are a bit disappointed but we have two games left to get fourth, which is amazing motivation.”

Olympiacos’ Chiquinho got the opening chance after escaping Villa’s defence, but the midfielder fired a hasty shot.

It was a warning that Villa failed to heed as Olympiacos gave the visitors the lead in the 10th minute.

Daniel Podence, on loan from Wolves, picked out David Carmo’s overlapping run and his low cross reached the unmarked El Kaby, who rose to stop Emiliano Martínez from close range.

Villa were out of rhythm and their storming start was halted by Leon Bailly, who slipped during a shot that went weakly past Olympiacos keeper Kostas Tzoulakis.

Tzoulakis produced a superb save to deny Bailly’s fierce strike with a nimble tip on the stroke of half-time.

But with the tie firmly in hand, Olympiacos applied consistent pressure and made great saves to keep Villa at bay.

Moroccan forward El Kaabi put the result beyond doubt in the 78th minute when he pounced on Tzoulakis’s punt, beat Ezri Konsa and headed home to send Olympiacos into ecstasy.

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