The atmosphere at the Karaiskakis Stadium was electric, and it will be again tonight in Piraeus, in the red-and-white part of Athens! Olympiacos is in its first European final! After the surprising victory in Birmingham seven days ago (4-2), confirmation has arrived – a 2-0 win for the red-and-whites against the tournament’s top favourite, Aston Villa. The absolute hero of this two-leg tie is the Moroccan, Ayoub El Kaabi! The experienced striker scored a total of five out of six goals for Olympiacos in the semifinals! Three at Villa Park, and two tonight. The Greek team entered these matches as complete underdogs against the English representative, but now we can assert that they go into the final as favourites. Not only does momentum favor them, but above all, they will practically be playing at home in the final, as the title match is being held at the Aja Sofia Stadium in Athens.This is certainly one of Olympiacos’s greatest achievements in the club’s history. The red-and-whites’ previous best performances in European competitions were reaching the quarterfinals of the Champions League in 1999 and the quarterfinals of the Cup Winners’ Cup six years earlier. In the 21st century, this is by far the greatest result for the Greek giant, especially in a season that seemed destined to be a failure, considering their slim chances of winning the league title and their early exit from the domestic cup at the hands of their arch-rivals, Panathinaikos, earlier in the year. On the other hand, Unai Emery’s side is in a clear loss of form as the former Arsenal boss’ team have now won just once in their last six games. Emery has won the Europa League four times, three times with Sevilla and once with Villarreal, but tonight he was helpless. Luckily for him and his team, he has all but secured a place in the Champions League next season, since Tottenham is also in terrible form and cannot catch the Villains from their fifth spot. UEFA CONFERENCE LEAGUESemifinals – second legWednesdayClub Brugge – Fiorentina 1-1 (1-0) /first leg 2-3//Vanaken 20 – Beltran 85(P)/ThursdayOlympiakos – Aston Villa 2-0 (1-0) /first leg 2-4//El Kaabi 10, 78/
