Olympiacos will play in Athens against Fiorentina in the Europe Conference League final.
Everything is set up for a fascinating final clash with an immense Greek atmosphere.
The road to the final wasn’t easy for either team. Here are the best moments from the second leg of the semi-finals.
La Viola survive again will play in a second Conference League final in a row
Guess who’s back, back again?
Fiorentina, the masters of the late drama and crazy finishes this year, had one more in them on Wednesday eve at Brugge.
Coming in with a 90th-minute 3-2 win in the first leg, the Italian side was hoping to not complicate things vs a strong Club Brugge.
But the Belgians opened with a blast and made it 1-0 with a Maxim de Cuyper goal. The match turned into a frenzy of chances and near goals but remained even on aggregate until the 83rd minute when Fiorentina won a penalty.
Lucas Beltran slotted it home and sent Vincenzo Italiano’s men through to their second UECL final - a feat that will most likely be difficult to achieve in the future, as there is a high turnover of participating teams every year in the competition.
Club Brugge, which started the campaign in July, bowed out 18 matches later, after eliminating many big names and producing very exciting football.
💜⚜️#forzaviola #fiorentina pic.twitter.com/imuEQGcSqk
— ACF Fiorentina (@acffiorentina) May 9, 2024
Olympiacos humble Aston Villa, will host “home” final
Aston Villa dreamed of reaching the final and maybe being the second English team to win the title.
To do that, they had to reverse a two-goal deficit in Piraeus against Olympiacos, who had other plans: to play in a home European final.
As it turned out, The Villains simply did not have enough left in their tank. Jose Luis Mendilibar took charge of the Spanish coaching duel with Unai Emery and guided his team to a 2-0 victory and 6-2 on aggregate.
Ayoub El Kaabi, who else, scored a brace against the returning Emiliano Martinez - and also became the competition’s top scorer this season with 8 goals - and all that while he and his team only started playing in February after being knocked out of the Europa League.
𝕌ℕ𝕊𝕋𝕆ℙℙ𝔸𝔹𝕃𝔼
— Olympiacos FC (@olympiacosfc) May 9, 2024
🔥🔥🔥 @AyoubElKaabi 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/kNwsFnWf2r
On May 29th, this amazing UECL season will come to its climax in the Agia Sophia Stadium in Athens. Local Olympiakos will face a Fiorentina team that wants to avenge last year’s heartbreak. Whatever the outcome, it’s a fitting ending and great story for a 2023-24 campaign that we greatly enjoyed.
The 2023/24 #UECLfinal 😍
— UEFA Europa Conference League (@europacnfleague) May 9, 2024
Olympiacos 🆚 Fiorentina 🔜#UECL pic.twitter.com/pvWIbNiRGj
Photo courtesy: Olympiacos FC official X account