El Kaabi’s double crushes Aston Villa hopes of comeback at Olympiakos

There is a graffiti mural in the north stand – home to the most ardent, impassioned Olympiakos supporters – that displays a mockup of Muhammad Ali standing over his opponent sandwiched between the words: “Piraeus means knock out!” And so it proved for Aston Villa, whose European adventure came to a joyless end in the Greek port.

Unai Emery, a four-time Europa League winner, will not get his hands on the Europa Conference League trophy this season and Villa’s hopes of a first major European trophy since lifting the European Cup in 1982 are over.

There were a few episodes symptomatic of a painful night for Villa, who never truly looked like overturning the two-goal deficit from a damaging first-leg defeat. Their so-often fruitful high line came unstuck when a VAR review deemed Ayoub El Kaabi onside as Olympiakos doubled their lead on the night in the 78th minute, rattling in from close range.

Lucas Digne lifted a cross straight down the throat of the Olympiakos goalkeeper Kostas Tzolakis at 1-0 down. Earlier in the second half Emiliano Martínez and Douglas Luiz both sent simple passes straight out of play.

Emery had raised the potential scenario of Villa conceding when discussing the psychology around the tie, stressing they would need to keep their counsel and retain confidence in the gameplan, but knew doing so made a tough task at the outset considerably harder.

It is fair to say Villa will be delighted to see the back of El Kaabi, who built on his hat-trick at Villa Park by opening the scoring after 10 minutes here. Daniel Podence hovered on the ball, waiting before rolling a pass into the overlapping Olympiakos left-back Quini, who sent a low cross into the box.

El Kaabi, who spent last season playing in Qatar, lurked at the back post, free from Pau Torres, and converted off-balance to register his 33rd goal in 47 appearances this season. The fit-again Martínez, back after a thigh injury, dashed across his goal but the ball was already in the Villa net.

For Villa, it was a leg-up that only further empowered Olympiakos, now 5-2 up on aggregate and for only so long could Emery preach calm to his players from the sidelines. Olympiakos could smell their first major European final. If Villa had aspirations of a lighting-fast start and hacking away at the two-goal deficit evaporated, their problems soon multiplied.

It was always going to be an almighty challenge – Emery said this trip to Piraeus was their biggest test of the season – and the excitable, boisterous locals hardly required extra motivation to make a din. Villa were booed by a vociferous home support the moment they emerged for the warmup and their every touch was jeered.

When Villa’s starting lineup was read aloud 10 minutes before kick-off, the stadium announcer’s words were indistinguishable, drowned by the deafening noise.

The Olympiakos midfielder Chiquinho fired wide inside two minutes and though Ollie Watkins got a glimpse of goal soon afterwards, he was well marshalled by David Carmo, his header blocked.

Emery made three changes from the first leg, Martínez’s return a major boost. He opted for a five-man defence with Matty Cash and Digne tasked with playing wing-back, Watkins a lone striker, supported by Moussa Diaby and Leon Bailey. Villa saw plenty of the ball but more often than not they were faced with 10 red-and-white striped shirts behind the ball.

Panagiotis Retsos cut out a smart cross from Digne to avert danger midway through the first half and Douglas Luiz saw a shot dribble into the hands of Tzolakis. The closest Villa came to equalising in the first half was in the last of four minutes of stoppage time, Bailey sending a rasping left-foot shot at goal. Bailey’s strike skidded off the right boot of Rodinei, who was earlier booked for a foul on the Jamaica forward, but Tzolakis pawed his effort over for a corner.

Emery had limited options on the bench, with the centre-back Clément Lenglet the only outfield substitute over the age of 21.

The Villa manager introduced Jhon Durán before the hour mark and the midfielder Tim Iroegbunam midway through the second half in place of the defender Diego Carlos but by then it was impossible to escape the sense they had left themselves too much to do.

Iroegbunam’s first touch was to cannon a pass meant for Bailey straight out of play. Durán blasted a shot straight at Tzolakis and Watkins sent a header on to the roof of the net. Villa saw plenty of the ball but could not break Olympiakos’s resistance.

At one point Podence stymied Villa’s flow with a cynical tackle on John McGinn on halfway to abruptly halt a counterattack. At the other end Santiago Hezze could have killed the tie but failed to connect with an El Kaabi cross.

The Morocco striker El Kaabi would do the damage himself, racing on to a through ball and, not for the first time, displaying a clinical edge. “Dear Aston Villa fans, please remain seated at the end of the match,” said the stadium announcer approaching full-time. There was little chance of much else after this.