What Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis did after Olympiacos win vs Aston Villa

Evangelos Marinakis, the owner of Olympiacos and Nottingham Forest, doesn’t often get to see his Greek team play in England, but on Thursday night, it was possible.

In the first leg of the Europa Conference League semi-final at Villa Park, Olympiacos travelled to the Midlands to play Aston Villa. Villa started the match as the favourites, but Olympiacos won and advanced to the second leg the following week.
Ayoub El Kaabi’s goals gave the Greek team a 2-0 lead in the first half, although Ollie Watkins cut the deficit shortly before the break. When Moussa Diaby squeaked the ball in from a tight angle in the second half, Villa believed they had completed a comeback.

However, Olympiacos didn’t stop there. In the 56th minute, El Kaabi scored his hat trick from the penalty spot, and Antiago Hezze added to the team’s lead. Douglas Luiz missed a penalty kick in the second half, which made matters worse for Villa.

Due to the outcome, Villa will now need to score three goals without responding when playing away from home in order to advance to the competition’s final and avoid having to use another penalty shootout. The away supporters were ecstatic with Olympiacos’ outcome.

And Marinakis joined in with their festivities following the full-time whistle. The Forest owner approached the visiting supporters in the away end and gave them high fives and hugs in a video that TNT Sports was able to capture before heading back across the pitch.
Forest and Olympiacos have a relationship because they share the same owner. Omar Richards, a full-back on loan from the Reds, entered the game at Villa Park in the second half as a substitute. Joao Carvalho, a former Forest player who joined the team from the City Ground in 2022, was also not used as a substitute.