The final four teams in the Europa Conference League can already feel the final in Athens on May 29. All they need to do is qualify through one more stage.
The first leg of the semi-finals provided us with the best Conference League experience we couldn't even imagine.
Another epic night of Europa Conference League for the Pireus-based club. Olympiacos’ players celebrate. (Photo courtesy: Olympiacos official X account)
Ayoub El Kaabi stunned Villa Park
Aston Villa had all the reasons to be the favourite to win the title, but after the last night, it might be much closer to the end of the road.
Olympiacos had a much brighter future since the appointment of José Luis Mendilibar. The reigning Europa League title holder with Sevilla already led his club to surprising performances against Maccabi Tel Aviv and Fenerbahce in the previous rounds.
The Greeks' leading player is Moroccan striker Ayoub El Kaabi, who is making his European debut season this year. In the first half, he scored twice, giving his side a shocking lead away in Birmingham.
A few minutes before halftime, Ollie Watkins scored the first for Villa, and Moussa Diaby added another one in the 52nd minute.
But this night was all about El Kaabi. Only four minutes after the equalizer, Olympiacos was awarded a penalty kick, and the Moroccan scored his third goal of the night. This hat-trick raised his goal tally in the Conference League to 8 goals, making him the joint tournament top scorer with Eran Zahavi from Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Olympiacos completed their part in the game with a fourth goal by Santiago Hezze. Aston Villa had their chance to score again, but Douglas Luiz made a poor shot and missed a penalty kick.
With a return leg next week in the Karaiskakis Stadium, Olympiacos are close to making their moment of joy after a 4-2 win. Could Aston Villa overturn the score?
Fiorentina almost failed
Fiorentina has a long tradition of making matches much more complicated than expected. Their home match against Club Brugge wasn't far from adding another game to the list.
Riccardo Sottil scored first for the Italian in 5 minutes, but it took about ten more minutes until Club Brugge equalized with a penalty from the veteran Hans Vanaken.
The Viola took the lead before halftime, with Andrea Belotti scoring in the 37th minute.
Yet, Fiorentina managed to transform their lead and dominance into a complicated task in an unusual five minutes. It began in the 58th minute when Raphael Onyedika of Club Brugge was booked. Onyedika got his second yellow card three minutes later and was sent off. In the 63rd minute, the Belgian scored a surprising equalizer by Igor Thiago.
Only in the additional time did Fiorentina score the winning goal, as M'Bala Nzola had done. It's the second time in this season's knockout stages that Fiorentina scored a winning goal after the 90th minute.
There might need to be more than this one-goal lead if Fiorentina wants to reach the final for the second time.
Photo courtesy: Olympiacos official X account
