Aston Villa need night of heroics after El Kaabi’s hat-trick for Olympiakos

Aston Villa’s first major European semi-final since 1982 ultimately fell flat and unless Unai Emery can inspire a memorable turnaround in the port of Piraeus next week, his side’s adventure will end in disappointment.

Olympiakos stormed into a two-goal lead at Villa Park and despite Ollie Watkins pulling a goal back before half-time and Moussa Diaby restoring parity after the break, the Greek side roused again to run out 4-2 winners, Ayoub El Kaabi helping himself to a hat-trick.

A frustrating night for the hosts was typified by Douglas Luiz’s penalty miss on 84 minutes, the midfielder dragging his shirt over his face after squandering an opportunity to reduce the deficit.

As the last English team standing in a European competition this season, Villa were flying the flag on behalf of the Premier League. The performance of their peers also means only fourth place will guarantee a Champions League spot next season, with the Bundesliga securing an extra place through the Uefa coefficient. It was why supporters had one eye on events at Stamford Bridge, given qualification for Europe’s premier competition will be beyond fifth-placed Tottenham if they lost at Chelsea and again at Liverpool on Sunday and Villa win at Brighton. Supporters could glance at their phones for updates elsewhere but Villa’s players were supposed to remain lasered in on the task at hand.

But, after a promising start in which Morgan Rogers forced Kostas Tzolakis, Olympiakos’s penalty shootout hero in the quarter-finals, into a left-handed save and Leon Bailey saw a header disallowed for Clément Lenglet’s shirt pull on Vicente Iborra a few minutes later, Villa lost their way. Villa trailed 2-0 inside 29 minutes, Ayoub El Kaabi scoring both goals, the first of which was awarded after a VAR review showed Matty Cash played the in-form Morocco striker – he has now scored 19 goals since February – onside. El Kaabi netted after latching on to Chiquinho’s cute flick, Villa’s high line was not high enough. His second goal came from a clever pass by the former Wolves winger Daniel Podence.

A break in play on the half-hour, owing to an injury to Francisco Ortega, allowed Emery to give his players a piece of his mind. He went ballistic at Douglas Luiz, gesticulating with fury. Then it was Lenglet’s turn to face the music and then Robin Olsen’s. Olsen, the experienced Sweden goalkeeper, began in place of the suspended Emiliano Martínez. All the while the burly frame of Evangelos Marinakis, the Greek shipping magnate who owns Olympiakos and Nottingham Forest, stood at the door of an executive box in the Trinity Road Stand. Olympiakos are Greece’s most successful side – they have their eyes on a 48th domestic title – but have not gone deep into a European competition since making the Champions League quarter-finals in 1999.

Villa were startled but stirred before the interval. Bailey appeared to be felled by Ortega in the box, only for the Italian referee, Marco Guida, to wave away appeals for a penalty. Emery went to march towards the tunnel before the fourth official, Donatas Rumsas, indicated three added minutes, during the first of which Watkins halved the deficit with a clinical, first-time finish, prompting Prince William, Villa’s most famous supporter, to rise to his feet. The move began with Olsen in the Villa goal. Ezri Konsa pushed a pass into Cash, who found Diaby, who slipped in Watkins. Villa finished the half strongly, Douglas Luiz skewing a half-volley wide moments after Diaby saw a dribbled shot deflected wide.

The second half was delayed owing to a medical emergency in the Holte End. Villa supporters in the lower block closest to the Doug Ellis Stand were evicted from their seats and a supporter was carried into an ambulance, the lights of which were still flashing as the game restarted about 10 minutes late.

Villa began the second half quickly, as they did the first, but this time they had something to show for it with Diaby sneaking a shot in at Tzolakis’s near post from an acute angle. Bailey picked up Lenglet’s diagonal pass and freed Diaby to do the rest. Emery offered his approval, a hearty double thumbs-up on the sidelines.

The same could not be said three minutes later, when the referee awarded a ludicrous penalty against Douglas Luiz, penalising the Brazil midfielder for handball at a corner. Panagiotis Retsos’s header was instinctively blocked by Douglas Luiz, who raised an elbow, but the Villa player was only centimetres from the Olympiakos defender. El Kaabi sent Olsen the wrong way from 12 yards to complete his hat-trick.

Villa felt aggrieved but more pain was to come. Olympiakos restored their two-goal advantage on 67 minutes, albeit fortuitously. Santiago Hezze took aim from 25 yards and his strike clattered the back of Konsa and wrong-footed Olsen in the Villa goal. Olsen shifted his feet to the left as Hezze let fly and though he got rushed back across goal to get a right arm on the ball he was powerless to stop it going in.

Villa were gifted a golden chance to reduce Olympiakos’s lead when David Carmo was penalised for a foul on the substitute Jhon Duran inside the box but, after a considerable wait, Douglas Luiz fluffed his lines, blasting his penalty against a post and wide. Olympiakos surrendered their three-goal lead over Fenerbahce in the quarter-finals and now Villa must mount a similar comeback on the outskirts of Athens if they are reach the final.