Aston Villa were the clear favorites over the two legs before the games, but there was only one team that wanted it more, and that was Olympiacos. One player stole the show, and that was Ayoub El Kaabi (MOR). He scored 5 of the 6 goals over the two games after joining Olympiacos in the summer. There was a lot of disrespect shown towards Olympiacos. They likely won the tie in the first leg at Villa Park, but the return leg at the G. Karaiskakis was not a done deal until El Kaabi got that early goal to kill the tie. The Karaiskakis is a cauldron, and when the fans are up for it, there is no better place.

If you had said at the start of the year that Aston Villa were favorites to win the Conference League, I would have said YES. If you had asked me at the start of the year if Olympiacos would reach the Conference League Final, I would have thought you were crazy. The team was in chaos and struggling. They sacked their second head coach of the season, Carlos Carvalhal, and had the head coach of the Olympiacos U19 squad for one game before the savior of the team, Jose Luis Mendilibar, arrived. He brought authority, and calm, and unlocked a team lacking identity.

*YOUR NOTHING SPECIAL, WE LOSE EVERY WEEK!*