Olympiakos beats Villa again to reach Conference League final
Olympiakos became on Thursday the second Greek club ever to reach a European final, as it defeated Aston Villa for the second time in as many games, this time with a 2-0 score in Piraeus, to set up an appointment with Fiorentina at the Europa Conference League final, to take place on May 29 in Athens.
The Reds have therefore beaten Aston Villa 6-2 on aggregate and have qualified to the first final in their 99-year history, with a major chance of winning Greece’s first ever European club competition trophy given that the showpiece game will be hosted by AEK’s stadium at Nea Filadelfia.
On Thursday Olympiakos won in easier-than-expected fashion, as the Premier League side did not pose the challenge one would have expected from a team that is close to a Champions League regular season ticket for next year.
The Reds went ahead early on with Ayoub El Kaabi, who late in the second half also scored his and Olympiakos’ second goal to complete five goals in the two games against Aston Villa.
The full-time whistle led to an eruption of joy at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium, with some 35,000 fans partying wildly, while streets in Piraeus, Athens and other cities were immediately filled by raving fans of the Reds.
The only other time a Greek club had made a European final was 53 years ago, when Panathinaikos contested the Champions Cup final in 1971 at Wembley, losing 2-0 to Ajax.
