John McGinn insists Aston Villa ‘have a mountain to climb’ but CAN overturn the odds to beat Olympiacos next week… after the Greek side put a dent in their hopes of ending 42-year wait to reach a European final
- Unai Emery’s team was defeated 4-2 by Olympiacos at Villa Park on Thursday
- The Villa boss said the visitors ‘deserved the win’ and urged his side to improve
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Aston Villa captain John McGinn says his team have a ‘mountain to climb’ in Athens next week after a 4-2 first-leg defeat to Olympiacos in the Europa Conference League semi-final – but they are ‘more than in able to do this.
It was a poor performance, summed up by Douglas Luiz’s penalty miss in the second half. Villa had fought back to 2-2 after the Piraeus team took an early lead with two goals.
But then Moroccan striker Ayoub El Kaabi completed his hat-trick and Santiago Hezze struck from distance for 4-2.
Unai Emery’s side still have work to do in the away match next Thursday if they want to book their place in the final of the competition, which also takes place in the Greek capital. But skipper McGinn says Villa have not given up yet.
“We have a mountain to climb, but we know we are capable of doing it,” the Scot said.
John McGinn believes Aston Villa can overturn a two-goal deficit against Olympiakos next week
It was a tough night for the Villans, who were defeated 4-2 by the Greek side in the semi-finals
Unai Emery praised the visitors but claimed his side were ‘frustrated and disappointed’
‘They are a good side. We wanted a win to go to Greece. We have shown that we can come back. [There were] mistakes everywhere tonight.
“We will take responsibility, but it is up to us to go to Athens and turn the tide, because we have the capacity to do so.
‘They played very well tactically. Everything that could have gone wrong tonight did. The manager was still positive in (the dressing room). There is still a long way to go.’
Emery himself added: ‘We didn’t play the way we play. We have to stay consistent.
‘They deserved to win. They are a good team. They have experience. It’s not about luck. We didn’t play well. We have to play better. They deserved to win.
‘We are frustrated and disappointed. We didn’t play well. We played so fast and we needed more passes to get into the penalty area. They did well and we didn’t. Congratulations to them.
‘But we will try to come back next week. They are the favorites.’
Olympiacos scored twice in the second half after Aston Villa had pulled the score back to 2-2
Ayoub El Kaabi was the star performer, scoring twice early on before completing his hat-trick
Douglas Luiz apologized to fans at Villa Park after missing a second-half penalty
Olympiacos boss Jose Luis Mendilibar saw hat-trick hero El Kaabi take his season tally to 30 goals.
“We were ourselves and played without having to think about our rival,” said the Basque, who, like Emery, tasted European success with Sevilla.
‘We weren’t afraid of Aston Villa.’