Yahoo News Evangelos Marinakis makes 'big' statement about Aston Villa defeat to Olympiacos
Evangelos Marinakis, owner of both Olympiacos and Nottingham Forest, has hailed the achievement of his Greek football club after they progressed to the Europa Conference League final at the expense of Aston Villa.
Villa were beaten over a two-legged semi-final by Olympiacos as the tie ended 6-2 in favour of the now-finalists. Striker Ayoub El Kaabi was responsible for five of those strikes, including a hat-trick at Villa Park eight days ago.
In the aftermath of that match Marinakis was seen heavily involved in the Red-Whites' celebrations, having made the short trip over from Nottingham. Now the businessman has again expressed his delight at the result of the second leg.
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"It was a very big achievement for our players, our manager and fantastic crowd, they all supported," he said via BBC Sport. "There’s something magic in this stadium in Piraeus, you have these positive vibes that help you and you feel a winner from the very beginning."
Unai Emery's squad certainly experienced this as the tie fell away from them before their eyes. Despite holding 70 percent of possession on the night with 14 attempts on goal included, only four of those were on target. At the other end of the field their opponents were able to extend their aggregate advantage with only 10 minutes on the clock, then as the game approached the final 10 minutes a killer blow ended any hopes of a fightback.
Olympiacos will now face last year's Europa Conference League runners-up Fiorentina in the final, which takes place at the stadium of their great rivals AEK Athens. They have become the first Greek club to reach a major European final since 1971, which explains Marinakis' delight even further.
