ASTON VILLA face an uphill battle to progress to the final of the Europa Conference League.
El Kaabi’s sensational hattrick inspired Olympiacos to a 4-2 win over the Villans.
And Unai Emery will be bitterly disappointed as his team have been relentless at Villa Park this season.
- RESULT: Aston Villa 2-4 Olympiacos
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- TV channel: TNT Sports 1
- Aston Villa XI: Olsen; Cash, Konsa, Lenglet, Digne; Bailey, McGinn, Douglas Luiz, Rogers; Diaby, Watkins
- Olympiacos XI: Tzolakis, Ortega, Chiquinho, Fortounis, Iborra, El Kaabi, David Carmo, Rodinei, Hezze, Restos, Podence
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Olympi-c heroes
Well nobody saw that coming.
All credit has to go to Olympiacos manager Jose Luis Mendilibar, who a few Premier League clubs may be after if he can set a team up like that every week.
Like a Spanish Jurgen Klopp, he ordered his side to take risks and not give the Villa defence a second to play out.
The former Sevilla boss also gave a ball to a Villa mascot after the match, which was a nice touch.
For Emery, it was like a horrible throwback to one of his Arsenal team’s performances.
Villa were completely unable to adapt when they were put under pressure and the game went against them.
But they did have more than their share of chances, and while it’s an extremely tall order to win by two goals or more in Piraeus, they won’t feel they’re completely out of it.
FULL TIME: Aston Villa 2 Olympiacos 4
90+4: Aston Villa 2 Olympiacos 4
Ollie Watkins gets the ball down the left but he seems to have somewhat run out of gas.
The England star can do nothing more than run the ball out of play when he should have easily kept it in.
90+1: Aston Villa 2 Olympiacos 4
Aston Villa attack down the left this time.
But a poor Digne cross goes straight to Tzolakis.
90: Aston Villa 2 Olympiacos 4
Five minutes added on.
89: Aston Villa 2 Olympiacos 4
Jhon Duran goes for the spectacular, and spectacular it isn’t.
The Colombian’s effort at an overhead scissor kick is so wayward that it doesn’t even reach the goal.
Now it’s defender Panos Retsos’ turn to go down with a banged head.
86: Aston Villa 2 Olympiacos 4
John McGinn gets the ball in a promising position and beats his man on the edge of the box.
However, his penalty goes straight at Tzolakis.
Aston Villa 2 Olympiacos 4
Douglas Luiz will have few worse evenings in his career.
David Carmo was lucky to avoid having a penalty given against him for a handball, but then brought down Duran leaving the referee with no choice but to point to the spot.
Luiz, who has had a shocker so far, immediately picks up the ball.
But Olympiacos then resort to delaying tactics Emi Martinez would be proud of and it gets to the Brazilian, who fires so high and wide that he’d have missed if there were two goals!
Penalty to Aston Villa!
79: Aston Villa 2 Olympiacos 4
It could have been another one for the Greeks.
But Robin Olsen manages to parry away a powerful shot from the edge of the box.
77: Aston Villa 2 Olympiacos 4
Aston Villa get a free kick and it finds the head of Ollie Watkins.
However, Watkins header ends up closer to the corner flag than the goal.
It’s been that sort of night for Villa so far.
71: Aston Villa 2 Olympiacos 4
Ollie Watkins is at the centre of things again as he is played through on the right.
He cuts inside but does everything too ponderously and sees his shot comfortably held by Tzolakis.
69: Aston Villa 2 Olympiacos 4
Daniel Podence is subbed off for Andre Horta.
He doesn’t look too happy with the decision.
With the state of the Villa defence tonight, the ex-Wolves man probably fancied his chances of scoring a goal and rubbing it in the home fans’ faces.
Aston Villa 2 Olympiacos 4
Good work from Podence down the left who commits Cash then lays the ball off to Santiago Hezze.
The Argentine fires a deflected strike past the despairing Robin Olsen.
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLL!!!!!
It’s a fourth for Olympiacos! What is going on?!
64: Aston Villa 2 Olympiacos 3
Morgan Rogers gets the ball on the right-wing and tries a Diaby-style snapshot.
But it’s a disappointing effort and hits the side-netting.
62: Aston Villa 2 Olympiacos 3
Olympiacos starting to slow things down as their winger goes down injured, with the game stopped for him to receive treatment.
To add insult to injury for the home crowd, it’s ex-Wolves star Daniel Podence.
60: Aston Villa 2 Olympiacos 3
A well-placed through ball finds Watkins but Tzolakis is quick to react.
However the Greek goalkeeper slides the ball against Watkins and it goes wide.
Aston Villa 2 Olympiacos 3
The referee, who hasn’t given Villa a thing all night, points straight to the spot.
But this time he is spot on as the ball was clearly headed against Douglas’ Luiz’s outstretched arm.
El Kaabi slots home and the Greek journalists go wild.
A bit too wild for the Villa fans behind who are now pelting the media section with scrunched up paper aeroplanes.
GOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLL!!!!!
It’s a hat-trick for Ayoub El Kaabi!
Penalty to Olympiacos!
Aston Villa 2 Olympiacos 2
It’s a bit of a howler from goalkeeper Tzolakis.
The 21-year-old bets everything on Diaby switching onto his stronger left foot.
However, Diaby instead beats him at his near post to poke the ball in with his right.
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLL!!!!
It’s Moussa Diaby!
46: Aston Villa 1 Olympiacos 2
Olympiacos substitution.
Francisco Ortega is replaced by Nottingham Forest loanee Omar Richards.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
