El Kaabi treble for Olympiacos haunts Villa, Fiorentina win 3-2
Olympiacos striker Ayoub El Kaabi scored a hat-trick in a 4-2 win at Aston Villa in their Conference League semi-final first leg as Fiorentina left it late to beat 10-man Club Brugge 3-2 on Thursday.
The Greeks went ahead thanks to a cool finish from Moroccan striker El Kaabi on 16 minutes and he made it 2-0 on half an hour as Villa's defence fell apart.
The Birmingham-based outfit levelled through top scorer Ollie Watkins on the stroke of half-time after a neat move and managed to equalize after the break when Moussa Diaby scored from a tight angle.
But having got themselves back in it, Villa then conceded a penalty through Douglas Luiz - who later missed one himself - and up stepped El Kaabi to complete a famous hat-trick. Santiago Hezze then added a deflected fourth on 67.
The game was delayed due a medical emergency in the crowd.
Unai Emery, who has won this competition four times, now faces a huge challenge as his Villa side look to qualify for their first European final since winning the European Cup in 1982.
Villa captain John McGinn told TNT Sports: "Mistakes all round tonight. We'll take responsibility but it's up to us to go (there) and turn it around because we're capable.
"Everything that could have gone wrong tonight did. But the manager was still positive in there. There's still a long way to go."
Record Greek champions Olympiacos will meanwhile be eyeing their maiden European final when they welcome Villa to Piraeus next Thursday.
It has been a wild competition for the Red and Whites, who lost 4-1 at home to Maccabi Tel Aviv in a previous round only to win 6-1 away.
In Florence, Riccardo Sottil's effort from distance had La Viola in the lead but Brugge soon hit back from the spot through Hans Vanaken after video review showed Cristiano Biraghi had committed a foul.
Fiorentina were back in front on 37 minutes through forward Andrea Belotti only for Thiago to level on the break in the second half after seeing team-mate Raphael Onyedika sent off moments earlier for a second booking.
But the Italians are now favourites for the second leg in Belgium on Wednesday thanks to substitute M'Bala Nzola's stoppage-time winner.
"We are disappointed about the goals we conceded but we won and it's an advantage," Fiorentina coach Vincenzo Italiano said. "We need to give even more in the second leg."
