Aston Villa captain John McGinn acknowledged the sheer frustration of their Europa Conference League semi-final first-leg defeat to Olympiacos, stating, “Everything that could have gone wrong, did.”
The Greek side capitalized on early defensive errors, with Ayoub El Kaabi netting a quickfire brace. Villa fought back through goals from Ollie Watkins and Moussa Diaby, but their momentum was short-lived.
A controversial El Kaabi penalty and a deflected strike from Santiago Hezze put Olympiacos back in control. Douglas Luiz’s missed penalty summed up Villa’s night, leaving them with a daunting 2-goal deficit to overturn in the second leg.
“We made mistakes across the board, and we’ll take responsibility,” McGinn admitted to TNT Sports. “It’s a massive challenge, but we believe we can still do it. The manager remains positive, and there’s still a game to play.”
El Kaabi’s opener, initially flagged offside, was overturned by VAR. He then doubled their lead with a composed finish after a clever pass from Daniel Podence.
Watkins managed to pull a goal back for Villa just before halftime, followed by Diaby’s equalizer shortly after the break. However, Villa’s joy was short-lived.
A Luiz handball gave away a penalty, which El Kaabi coolly converted for his hat-trick. Hezze’s deflected shot then added further misery for Villa.
Luiz had a chance to redeem himself with a late penalty, but his effort went off target, leaving Villa with a difficult task ahead of the second leg in Piraeus on May 9th.
