Greek Super League club Olympiacos will take a two-goal advantage back to Athens after beating Aston Villa 4-2 in an extraordinary first leg of their UEFA Europa Conference League semi-final.
The 47-time winners of the Greek top flight produced a brilliant display of counter-attacking football to spoil the party at Villa Park, which was hosting a European semi-final for the first time since 1982.
Villa now face a stiff task to qualify for the final when they travel to Greece for the second leg on Thursday 9 May.
How the match unfolded
Unai Emery made three changes to the team that started the 2-2 draw at home to Chelsea in Villa's last outing.
With Emiliano Martinez serving a one-match suspension, Robin Olsen started in goal. The injured Youri Tielemans was replaced by Moussa Diaby in midfield, while Clement Lenglet was preferred to Pau Torres in defence.
Olympiacos went in front on 16 minutes, Ayoub El Kaabi racing on to a clever flick by Chiquinho and finishing past Olsen. Initially ruled out for offside, the decision was overturned following a VAR review.
Just before the half-hour mark the Greek side, who were appearing in a European semi-final for the first time in their history, doubled their lead. Chiquinho was again instrumental in the build-up, before former Wolverhampton Wanderers winger Daniel Podence teed up El Kaabi for his second goal, giving the visitors a shock 2-0 lead.
After Olympiacos came close to a third, Villa struck back in first-half stoppage time to halve the deficit. Following nice link-up play between Matty Cash and Diaby, Ollie Watkins fired past Konstantinos Tzolakis for his 26th goal of the season in all competitions.
Early in the second half, Villa Park was bouncing after Diaby’s shot squeezed past Tzolakis from a tight angle to level the score at 2-2.
But within four minutes, Olympiacos were ahead again as this breathless encounter took another twist. El Kaabi completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot after a handball by Douglas Luiz.
The visitors added a fourth on 67 minutes when Santiago Hezze’s long-range shot took a big deflection off Ezri Konsa, leaving Olsen helpless to stop it.
There was still time for more drama when Villa were awarded a penalty with nine minutes remaining. Substitute Jhon Duran was brought down by David Carmo, giving Douglas Luiz the chance to make amends from the spot - but the Brazil international struck against a post, leaving the home side with a huge task in the second leg in Athens, which comes four days after their Premier League trip to Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday.
