Olympiacos vs Aston Villa Europa Conference League semi-final second leg preview: Where to watch, kick-off time, predicted line-ups

Olympiacos and Aston Villa meet in the UEFA Europa Conference League semi-final second leg on Thursday 9 May.

Where to watch Olympiacos vs Aston Villa

Fans can find their local UEFA Europa Conference League broadcast partner(s) here.

What do you need to know?

Olympiacos can become only the second Greek team to reach a major UEFA competition final, and the first since Panathinaikos in 1970/71. Thrylos have been impressive in European action at the Stadio Georgios Karaiskakis of late, triumphing in four of their last five such fixtures, and have a man in form in striker Ayoub El Kaabi, who is level at the top of the Europa Conference League scoring charts with eight goals following his hat-trick in England.

Villa captain John McGinn backed his side to overturn the two-goal deficit inflicted in the first leg, as they failed to record a victory at Villa Park for the first time in UEFA competition this season "Everything that could have gone wrong, did," said the 29-year-old. "It's up to us to go to Athens and turn it around, because I know we're capable."

Predicted line-ups

Olympiacos: Tzolakis; Rodinei, Retsos, Carmo, Richards; Chiquinho, Hezze, Iborra; Podence, El Kaabi, Fortounis

Aston Villa: Martinez; Konsa, Torres, Diego Carlos, Digne; Cash, Douglas Luiz, McGinn, Bailey; Duran, Watkins

Form guide

Olympiacos
Form (all competitions, most recent first): WWDWLW
Most recent result: Aston Villa 2-4 Olympiacos, 02/05, Europa League semi-final first leg

Aston Villa
Form (all competitions, most recent first): LLDWLW 
Most recent result: Brighton 1-0 Aston Villa, 05/05, English Premier League

Expert predictions

Vassiliki Papantonopulou, match reporter
To quote Greek philosopher Aristotle: “well begun is half done”. Olympiacos’s victory in Birmingham has put them firmly in pole position and sent their fans into a frenzy as they look ahead to a potential final just a few kilometres north-east from Piraeus. However, 90 minutes in football is a long time and anything can happen. Unai Emery and his players believe they can still have a say in this tie and, as the Spanish coach said: “This semi-final is our biggest challenge this season”.

What the coaches say

Jose Luis Mendilibar, Olympiacos coach: "Is this the biggest match of the season? I hope not. I hope there is one more. We have to be focused; the situation has not changed much since the first match. You qualify over two legs, and Aston Villa will play hard to reach the final, as will we. Both teams have a chance. The players are starting to believe in themselves and when you do that things can go a lot better."

Unai Emery, Aston Villa manager: "We will try to come back but they are favourites. We will play there trying to show something different. What do we need to improve? Everything. We conceded four goals, lost a lot of balls. We were extra motivated and extra excited. It's a very good moment playing in the semi-final and we lost the first leg. We will have the second opportunity."

Destination: Athens

UEFA via Getty Images

The 2023/24 Europa Conference League season will conclude at the AEK Arena in Athens, Greece on 29 May.