Unai Emery was oustsmarted as his knackered Aston Villa stars came up short against supposed inferior opponents to miss out on a European final...
Unai Emery was outsmarted as his knackered Aston Villa stars came up short against supposed inferior opponents to miss out on a European final… Aston Villa headed into their Europa Conference League semi-final against Olympiacos as favourites to win the competition but they were on the brink of an unexpected exit before even heading to Greece for the return leg.
Fast forward to this evening, Villa required a near-perfect performance to overturn the two-goal deficit to reach their first European final since 1982. Having barely had a touch early on, this long pass exposed Villa’s high line as their defenders were on their back foot with Podence advancing towards the goal.
It was another example of Olympiacos using quick interchanges to get in behind their opponents and their high defensive line after they looked like scoring almost every time they attempted a similar attack at Villa Park. Mendilibar said pre-match that a “great weapon” up the sleeve of his side’s opponents is Emery “100 per cent believes” they can still knock Olympiacos out. But their defensive solidarity only added to Villa’s frustrations and any remaining nervous energy among his players would have evaporated when El Kaabi struck yet again with ten minutes to go to grab his fifth goal to make it a 6-2 aggregate victory.
Emery’s work at Villa has further asserted him as a modern managerial great and many expected his expertise in Europe would carry his blossoming side to a European trophy this season.
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