Aston Villa bow out of Europe with tame Olympiacos defeat | OneFootball

Aston Villa's dreams of European glory will have to wait at least one more season as they fell to a tame defeat in Athens to exit the Europa Conference League at the hands of Olympiacos.

Scorers: El Kaabi 10', 78'

Villa, who were trailing 4-2 from the first leg, began the game brightly and looked the more likely side to open the scoring. However, the home side took the lead against the run of play when Ayoub El Kaabi, who netted a hat-trick in the first leg, tapped in unmarked after just 10 minutes after an excellent cross from Daniel Podence.

The visitors dominated the ball, but couldn't find a way to test Konstantinos Tzolakis in the Olympiacos goal, and looked largely toothless heading into the break.

It was much the same afterwards, with Vicente Iborra in particular starring in the heart of midfield for the Greek side, and Villa failing to find the final ball needed to convert their possession into chances.

Then, as they pushed for a way back, they were hit on the break. El-Kaabi again was the man of the moment, latching onto a long ball from Tzolakis to cut inside and fire past Emiliano Martinez. After a VAR check, the goal stood, and Villa's hopes of a comeback were ended.

For Olympiacos, it marks a first ever European final, while Villa know that next season, they will likely be playing Champions League football in midweek instead.