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Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis was among the away fans as Olympiakos secured a huge 4-2 win over Aston Villa.
Olympiakos dealt a major blow to Aston Villa’s hopes of winning the Europa Conference League by claiming victory at Villa Park in the first leg of the semi-final.
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Ayoub El Kaabi scored a hat-trick and Santiago Hezze’s deflected shot put the Greek side four up with Ollie Watkins and Moussa Diaby scoring for the home side.
The visitors were encouraged by their incredible and raucous support outside, with one end of Villa Park awash in red and white.
And among them, Marinakis, owner of Nottingham Forest, who is also president of Olympiakos, was celebrating.
He was spotted almost jumping outside after the match ended as fans serenaded and cheered him on, waving to supporters and receiving hugs.
It’s not difficult to understand why the Greek fans were also so pleased after a masterful performance against Unai Emery’s men.
The Super League side took a two-goal lead through El Kaabi, who completed his hat-trick after Villa pulled it back to 2-2 through Watkins and Diaby.
Hezze then delivered a fatal blow late in the match when his shot deflected off Ezri Konsa towards Robin Olsen on the wrong foot before Douglas Luiz hit the post after a penalty.
This gives Villa a formidable hill to climb on their trip to Piraeus, whose coach José Luis Mendilibar is another Basque coach to have won the Europa League with Sevilla, as is Emery.
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The Villa boss was unhappy with his side after the first-leg defeat, but he praised Olympiakos, saying: “Congratulations to them.
“We didn’t play the way we play. We have to continue to be consistent. They deserved to win. They’re a good team. They have experience.
“It’s not about luck. We didn’t play well. We need to play better. They deserved to win.”
Villa face Brighton on Sunday as they continue to fight to stay in the top four, although Chelsea gave them a boost with victory over fifth-placed Tottenham on Thursday night.
Olympiakos, meanwhile, have a free weekend with their league campaign and playoff stage coming to an end, as Emery told his players: “Get ready for next Thursday’s game. Try to play better, compete better.”
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