Key events
The teams
Here’s how they’re looking …
Here’s Ben Fisher on the wonderful time Villa are having.
Preamble
Good evening and welcome to coverage of Olympiakos’ trip over to Villa Park for the first leg of this Europa Conference League semi-final tie. Unai Emery’s priority is the Premier League but as a serial Europa League winner he knows how good continental success tastes; this really is a massive night in Aston Villa’s modern history, a chance to replicate the scenes taken in by West Ham last year. They’ll have to get through it without a major figure, though, with Emi Martínez, their chief mischief-maker, missing through suspension. Nervy, even just a little? They must be.
The Greek side had their own penalty joy in the quarter-finals, beating Fenerbahce 3-2 in the shootout after Konstantinos Tzolakis, just 21 years of age, made three saves. Their season began in the Europa League and included a victory over West Ham, but they exited at the group stage before defeating Ferencváros, Maccabi Tel Aviv and the relatively star-studded Turkish outfit to get to this point. Villa have won all of their home games in this European run; a difficult night lies ahead for their opponents. Kick-off’s at 8pm BST.
