Aston Villa need ‘flawless’ second leg to reach Conference League final

Aston Villa will have to put in a “flawless” performance in their UEFA Europa Conference League semi-final second leg against Olympiacos to reach the final, according to TNT Sports expert Alan Hutton.

Villa suffered a 4-2 loss in the first leg and now face an uphill battle in the second leg in Athens on Thursday, May 9, live on TNT Sports and discovery+.

The supporters at Villa Park had been silenced within 30 minutes after Ayoub El Kaabi scored twice for Olympiacos in quick succession. Ollie Watkins gave them hope when he closed the deficit just before half-time, before Moussa Diaby drew Villa level in the 52nd minute.

It appeared as if the momentum had swung in Villa’s favour, but they fell behind again when Douglas Luiz was deemed to have handled the ball in the penalty box and El Kaabi was on hand to convert the spot-kick and secure his hat-trick.

Olympiacos then restored their two-goal lead through Santiago Hezze, whose 25-yard strike deflected off the back of Ezri Konsa and wrong-footed goalkeeper Robin Olsen.

The drama continued when Villa were awarded a penalty for a foul on Jhon Duran in the 84th minute, but Luiz’s effort went wide.

“It’s not over yet,” insisted Hutton, who played as a defender for Villa from 2011 to 2019. “I believe this team are more than capable of going away from home and having a really good performance.

“It would have to be literally a flawless performance defensively and on the attacking front. But under this manager they are capable of getting something and doing something special.

“I think it’s doable. It’s going to be difficult. We’ve seen the fans there, it’s going to be some atmosphere. Really looking forward to it, but I think they can do it. That’s my opinion.

“The players that can light up games, they’re match winners. I genuinely believe something special can happen.”

Villa captain John McGinn was also positive about his team’s chances of progressing to the final, despite the two-goal deficit.

“Of course we’re going to take responsibility, but it’s up to us to go to Athens next week and turn it around,” he told TNT Sports. “Because we know we’re capable.”

He added: “A lot of people were expecting us to sweep teams aside but everyone has come here and proven they can play. Hopefully next week we’ll have a few players back, and the onus is on us to go and attack Olympiacos and score more goals than what the deficit is.

“We know what we have to do, we know we’ve given ourselves a mountain to climb, but we know we’re capable.”

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