The three major European Cups in the 2023/24 season are the Waterloo of the Premier League, last season, the Premier League team won the Champions League and the UEFA Cup, and the scenery is endless, but this season the Premier League teams have collectively slipped in the European competition, Manchester City and Arsenal fell in the Champions League quarterfinals, Liverpool and West Ham United missed the Europa League semi-finals, and only Aston Villa reached the Europa League semi-finals. In the second leg of the Europa League semi-finals, Aston Villa challenged Olympiacos away, in the game, Caeby scored twice, scored five goals in two legs, and finally Olympiacos eliminated Villa to reach the UEFA Cup final.
Aston Villa once won the Champions League, and this season has the addition of Unai Emery, the king of the Europa League, and has become a super dark horse in the Premier League, currently in the top four positions of the Premier League, 7 points ahead of Tottenham behind him with one more game, and is likely to participate in the Champions League next season. They reached the semi-finals in the UEFA Cup, but in the first leg at home, Aston Villa's wild attack was defeated by Olympiacos' counter-attack, losing 2-4, and in the second leg, Aston Villa had to beat their opponents by three goals away to turn it around.
In the second leg, Aston Villa's main goalkeeper, Argentina international Martinez, returned from suspension. However, just 10 minutes into the game, Aston Villa suffered a blow when Gini broke down the left and crossed into an inverted triangle, Caeby followed up in the middle to score an empty goal, and Olympiacos got off to a dream start with a 1-0 lead at home to Aston Villa and a 5-2 aggregate lead over the two legs.
Aston Villa, who were three goals behind, let go and attacked frantically, and in the 24th minute, Luiz's long-range shot from the edge of the penalty area was saved by the goalkeeper. In the 27th minute, Aston Villa broke through and crossed, and Leon Bailey in the penalty area grabbed the point and shook his head to hit the top of the goal. In the 35th minute, Aston Villa got a free kick opportunity in front, and Luiz took the free kick and shot directly high. In the 40th minute, Villa continued to attack and had a great chance to score, but Cash accidentally fell in the face of an empty goal and missed a good chance to score.
In the second half, Aston Villa continued to attack fiercely, and in the 61st minute, Duran's burst shot was saved by the goalkeeper. In the 69th minute, Olympiacos counter-attacked, Masuras got a one-on-one chance, but Martinez made a timely attack to defuse the danger. In the 78th minute, Olympiacos had another chance to counterattack, this time Caebi scored a brace to help Olympiacos finally beat Aston Villa 2-0, and beat Villa home and away over two legs, with an aggregate score of 6-2.
Looking at the post-match stats, Aston Villa managed a whopping 74 per cent possession and four of their 15 attempts on goal but failed to score a goal. Olympiacos, on the other hand, had just 26% possession and had 5 of their 9 shots on goal in the game. After this campaign, Olympiacos reached the final of the UEFA Europa League and will compete with Fiorentina for the trophy.
With Aston Villa's exit, the Premier League teams have all been wiped out in the three major European cups this season, and Emery has no chance to lead Villa to the final championship trophy. Of the six finalists in the Champions League, Europa League and UEFA Europa League, the Bundesliga and Serie A each have two teams, and there are no Premier League teams. In the Champions League, Manchester United and Newcastle even stopped in the group stage, and next season's Champions League will be reformed, and the Premier League has not won 5 Champions League places due to the decline in European results, and the world's first league is too famous.