I don’t think anyone of an Aston Villa persuasion would have predicted the outcome of Thursday night’s game between Villa and Olympiakos.
Throughout the day, both sets of fans built up the tension and atmosphere in and around Birmingham in anticipation of the Semi-Final.
In truth, Villa were below par. I am unsure if it was tiredness or the pressure got to the players but they underperformed from how we have come to expect from our side since Unai Emery took control at the club.
Credit must go to Olympiakos though. Their experience in Europe showed as they exploited Villa and played the game you would expect from an experienced side.
We must remember, however, that it is only half time and would you want to bet against us?
Aston Villa 2-4 Olympiakos
Robin Olsen came in for the injured and suspended Emi Martinez in goal while Emery preferred Clement Lenglet to Pau Torres who dropped to the bench.
It would have been easy to point the blame at the Swedish goalkeeper but in truth, he had very little chance when it came to the visitors opening two goals.
Villa did have the ball in the net early on but it was ruled out through VAR for being offside.
Matty Cash played Ayoub El Kaabi onside as he beat the offside trap following a through ball from Daniel Podence to give the Red-white the lead early on.
Just before the half-hour mark, Olympiakos stunned Villa Park into silence as they doubled their lead. Lucas Digne failed to track his man and allowed El Kaabi through to make it 0-2.
Villa needed a response and thought they had a penalty when Leon Bailey looked to have been fouled inside the penalty area only for the officials to say no.
They did pull one back on the stroke of half-time though through Ollie Watkins following a fine move.
Seven minutes into the second half, Villa had completed the come-back through Moussa Diaby as he snuck the ball past Kostas Tzolakis in the Olympiakos goal.
As quick as Villa had pulled themselves back into the game, the visitors were awarded a penalty when Douglas Luiz handled in the box. El Kaabi stepped up to complete his hat-trick from the resulting penalty.
It got worse for the home side and this time it was the blame of the goalkeeper. Santiago Hezze’s shot deflected off Ezri Konsa and although he was wrong-footed, he got his hand to the ball but failed to keep it out.
Villa were awarded a late penalty but Luiz was unable to convert leaving Villa with all the work to do in Greece on Thursday if they are to progress to the final.
What the manager said
Emery: “We are frustrated and disappointed, we didn’t play well. This is the summary I can do at the beginning. We didn’t have control of the game. We were playing so fast.
“In a lot of moments we needed to stop them getting good positions and get into their box with more passes than one, two or three. And they were attacking, playing so open. Our plan was completely different.
“Congratulations, they deserve to win the first leg. We will try to come back but, of course, they are now favourites. We will play there and try to show something different to tonight.”
Up Next
Aston Villa travel to Brighton in the Premier League on Sunday knowing a win could see them secure Champions League football for next season.
Just as Lille did in the previous leg, Olympiakos will get a full week to prepare for the returning fixture with no game this weekend.
