Conference League semi-final, first leg, Thursday, 02.05.2024
The top four have been found – in all UEFA competitions! I can now turn my attention to the Conference League, and in my current duel we’re up against two clubs with hardly any experience this far ahead.
That makes the match incredibly exciting, even though the bookies are of the opinion that the home side are much stronger! The home side are clearly stronger! Why do I expect a close result and, above all, an offensive one? You can find out in my Aston Villa Olympiakos Piraeus betting tip
It was exactly 42 years ago that Aston Villa celebrated winning the European Cup! They had beaten FC Bayern and had reached the very top of international soccer.
Back then, nobody knew that it would be decades before the club would achieve such a result again. Now it’s not quite there yet, but the Villans could make it to another European final.
They are in the top four in the Conference League, but that is by no means down to luck of the draw. The quarter-finals featured two very intense duels with OSC Lille, which could not have ended more dramatically
After a 2:1 win in the first leg, Matty Cash made it 2:1 in France with a few minutes to go, a goal that meant extra time. As nothing more happened here, several penalties had to be taken.
And as only former Leverkusen player Leon Bailey missed, England celebrated their progress to the semi-finals. They had been easier on the nerves in the round of 16, beating Ajax Amsterdam 0:0 and 4:0
The decisive factor could be that the away games in both the round of 16 and the quarter-finals were not won, but the home games were. Was this trend already evident in the group stage?
There were four wins, one draw and one defeat against Legia Warsaw, AZ Alkmaar and Zrinjski Mostar, and lo and behold, all three games were won at home. Of course, I also have to look at the Premier League with Aston Villa
They are in a sensational fourth place and have a good chance of making it into the top flight. A really strong season is therefore possible, and not just in one competition.
Speaking of the Champions League: Interwetten’s popular 11-euro freebet is available again these days!
Last weekend, Villa drew 2:2 against Chelsea. In terms of national facts, it is also interesting to note that Aston Villa scored 45 goals in their own stadium – not even Liverpool or Manchester City scored that many!
For the first time ever, the team will now face an opponent from Greece, but without the back-up between the posts. World champion Emiliano Martinez is suspended, so replacing him will not be easy.
Will the Greeks be sad to be labeled underdogs? Probably not! The club has made it to an international semi-final for the first time in its history, which should be motivation enough.
They didn’t make it through the group stage of the Europa League, Freiburg and West Ham were too strong. 11:14 goals, but the neutral observer still had fun here. Would Piraeus continue the spectacular trend in the Conference League?
In the intermediate round, Ferencvaros were eliminated with two 1:0 victories, which was suddenly a completely different story. Then, against Maccabi Tel Aviv, many a fan grew a few gray hairs.
After the 4-1 defeat in the first leg, nobody expected them to progress, but what happened? Olympiakos won 4:1 to take the game into extra time and then went on to win 6:1
The fans then got to see their wild soccer again against Fenerbahce. They won 3:2 in their own stadium, but could have held their nerve after taking a 3:0 lead. And yet, it was enough in the end.
Although they lost 1-0 away from home, the teams went straight into a penalty shoot-out, which went to the Greeks. Bitter: Fran Navarro and Georgios Ndoj picked up suspensions and will be sorely missed on Thursday.
It’s a good thing that Ayoub El Kaabi will be involved. Five goals in six Conference League games, what a strong record. Aston Villa will also rely on him, although a single goal from the visitors, regardless of who scores it, is already odds of 1.70 with Oddset.
Is Aston Villa really a class above Olympiakos Piraeus? That may be true in terms of the quality of some individual players, but the Greeks have impressed me in the last two CL rounds.
They can score goals, which is also true of the Villans. If you’re one of the best offensive teams in the Premier League, you want to mix up your opponents in Europe too.
For Piraeus, it’s their first ever international semi-final, which could lead to a certain amount of nervousness. For this reason, I have decided to make the following Aston Villa Olympiakos Piraeus betting tip:
We see more than 2.5 goals!
