Olympiacos produced a magnificent display to down Aston Villa at Villa Park on Thursday and move one step closer to its first-ever European final.
The Greek giants won the first leg of the Europa Conference League semi-final 4-2 and if they defend the two-goal advantage on the return leg in Pireaus they will play in the final of the third-tier UEFA competition to be held in Athens later in May.
Olympiacos stormed into a two-goal lead and despite Ollie Watkins pulling a goal back before half-time and Moussa Diaby restoring parity after the break, the Greek side roused again to run out 4-2 winners, Ayoub El Kaabi helping himself to a hat-trick.
“We respected our rival but we were not scared of Aston Villa,” said the Olympiacos head coach, José Luis Mendilibar, who in February became the club’s third manager of the season.
Striker El Kaabi man of the match for Olympiacos
El Kaabi began the goal flurry with a clinical finish. It was initially disallowed for an offside, but that was overturned after a check by the video assistant referee (VAR).
The Morocco striker added a classy second when he latched on to Daniel Podence’s clever pass over the top and slipped the ball under Robin Olsen.
Watkins pulled a goal back for Villa in added time in the first half with an angled finish from just outside the six-yard box.
Diaby then leveled as Konstantinos Tzolakis was beaten at his near post.
Villa seemed to have the momentum at that point but were sucker-punched by their visitors.
Douglas Luiz handled a Panagiotis Retsos header and El Kaabi coolly sent Olsen the wrong way from the resulting spot-kick to take his tally to eight goals in the competition.
There was more than an element of fortune to Olympiakos’ fourth as Hezze’s speculative effort flicked off the back of Ezri Konsa to wrong-foot Olsen.
Douglas Luiz had a late opportunity to atone for his error after David Carmo felled Jhon Duran but, to the incredulity of the home fans, he failed to hit the target.
The Greek giants reached the semi-finals of the UEFA competition after winning the penalty shoot-out against Turkish side Fenerbache last month in the quarter-finals.
Olympiacos remain chasing a double, fighting for the title in the Greek top flight, fourth place but only one point off second – and now they have one foot in the final in Europe, too.
Olympiacos founded on 10 March 1925, is the most successful club in Greek football history, having won 47 League titles, 28 Cups (18 Doubles) and 4 Super Cups, all records.
Τotalling 79 national trophies, Olympiacos is 9th in the world in total titles won by a football club.