Kaabi achieves a hat-trick, Olympiacos surprises Aston Villa and Fiorentina beats Bruges

May 2, 2024 Vaseline stjohnson 0

Ayoub El Kaabi scored a hat-trick as Olympiacos stunned Aston Villa 4-2 on Thursday to move closer to the Europa Conference League final at home in Athens later this month.

Despite being in their first European semi-final in 42 years, Villa were the favorites to lift the trophy, thanks in large part to manager Unai Emery’s record as a four-time Europa League winner.

Prince William was among the Villa fans left disappointed in the stands after a poor night for Emery’s men capped a miserable season for English clubs in Europe.

Villa is the only Premier League survivor in the semi-final phase of the three European competitions.

“Everything that could go wrong went wrong tonight,” Villa captain John McGinn said.

“Tonight we only made mistakes. We take responsibility, but it is up to us to go to Greece next week and change the situation because we are more than capable.”

Olympiacos showed no signs of nerves in their first European semi-final and El Kaabi took his tally for the season to 30 goals.

The Moroccan striker was initially called for offside in the first match in the 17th minute, but a VAR check showed that he had timed his run perfectly to slot in Chiquinho’s shot.

Villa are set for even more glamorous European nights next season as they sit fourth in the Premier League and are within striking distance of securing the Champions League.

However, in recent weeks they have shown signs of fatigue at the end of a grueling campaign and opened up easily once again for Olympiacos’ second goal.

Kaabi fell into the offside trap again to round Robin Olsen and double the visitors’ lead.

Momentum seemed to have returned in favor of the hosts either side of half-time.

Ollie Watkins reduced the deficit with his 27th goal of the season in first-half stoppage time before Moussa Diaby equalized when he surprised Konstantinos Tzolakis at his near post.

However, Villa were only level for four minutes when Douglas Luiz unnecessarily raised his arm to block an Olympiakos corner.

Emery insisted on the eve of the match that he had full faith in substitute goalkeeper Olsen, but Villa sorely missed the presence of the suspended Emi Martínez, whose penalty-killing heroics had won them a tense quarter-final against Lille.

El Kaabi coolly sent Olsen the wrong way from the penalty spot to complete his hat-trick.

The Swedish goalkeeper found himself on the wrong foot when Santiago Hezze’s shot deflected off Ezri Konsa.

Luiz had the chance to make up for his earlier mistake and set up a shot in the stands when Villa were awarded a penalty six minutes from time.

But the Brazilian’s shot hit the post and Emery had to produce a miracle in Piraeus next week to add another European trophy to his CV.

Fiorentina will take a slight lead in the other semi-final as an injury-time goal from M’Bala Nzola earned them a 3-2 victory over 10-man Club Brugge.

Last season’s finalists took the lead early on in spectacular style thanks to a shot from Riccardo Sottil.

Hans Vanaken quickly equalized for Brugge from the penalty spot, but Fiorentina took the lead again before the break thanks to Andrea Belotti.

Two quick yellow cards for Raphael Onyedika on the hour mark gave the Belgians a difficult task to keep the tie alive.

However, the 10 men immediately equalized when Brentford-bound striker Igor Thiago fired into the far corner.

The visitors’ resistance was finally broken when M’Bala’s first-time shot hit the post, but Brugge still have everything to play for with home advantage on May 8.