Aston Villa lost 4-2 at home without the Argentine goalkeeper. Moroccan forward Ayoub El Kabi scored a hat-trick and Olympiakos took a step closer to the finals of the UEFA Conference League.
Match highlights and Goals
On Thursday (May 2) night at Villa Park, Aston Villa dominated possession and attack. Possessing 66 percent of the time, they took 17 shots and put 7 on goal. In contrast, Olympiakos kept 5 goals with 8 shots. Despite being behind in ball possession or attack, Olympiakos took the result of the match well.
The Greek club took advantage of Villa’s first-choice goalkeeper Martinez’s absence. Moroccan forward Ayoub El Kabi gave the team the lead in the 16th minute of the match. Kabi, avoiding the hosts’ offside trap, grabbed Chiquinho’s pass and entered the box on the right side. After that, he beat Robin Olsen, who took charge of Villar’s goalkeeper in Martinez’s absence, with a strong shot. Kabi doubled the gap after 11 minutes. Once again avoiding the offside trap, the Moroccan forward beat Olsen in a one-on-one position with Podens’ soft cross.
Ollie Watkins eased the frustration of the home fans in first-half stoppage time. Watkins took possession of Diabai’s pass in the box after dodging two defenders. Then beat Olympiakos goalkeeper with perfect shot. Diaby eases back into the Aston Villa camp after the break. In the 52nd minute, after taking possession of Bailey’s pass in the box, Konakuni shot into the net of Olympiakos. The hosts equalized. However, Diaby-Watkins could not keep the home fans at ease for long.
After 4 minutes of equalization, Aston Villa went behind again with a penalty goal. Kabi picked up a hat trick with a successful spot kick. At this time, maybe Villa fans were imagining Martinez in their minds. Because this Argentinian goalkeeper has a great ability to save goals in penalties. Villa is playing the semi-final by winning the tiebreaker in his goalkeeping skills in the quarter-final. Olsen reminded Martinez again in the 67th minute. When Santiago Hezzes’ shot from outside the D-box, touched the body of one of the team’s defenders and went into the net. Martinez might have cleared the ball.
Douglas Luiz added to the woes in the Villa camp. In the 83rd minute, he came to take the penalty and sent the ball out of the net. In the end, the hosts did not get a chance. The first leg had to end with a 4-2 loss. Olympiakos will play in the final if they fail to do something incredible at their opponent’s home ground in the second leg.
Player of the match
Ayoub El Kaabi won the well deserved title for the player of the match after playing tremendously awesome for his team. His promising performance impressed everyone watching the match.
Fiorentina beat Club Brugge 3-2 in another match of the competition. Club Brugge has the opportunity to turn around at home in the next leg as the margin of defeat is not too big.
