A place in the final is within touching distance for the four Europa Conference League semi-finalists set to do battle on Thursday night.
Aston Villa are flying the flag as England’s sole European survivors and will entertain Olympiacos at a feverish Villa Park.
Villa’s long journey to the last four began in August in the play-off round and it has been a remarkable effort to maintain their Premier League top-four challenge alongside 12 European games to date.
Last season’s beaten finalists Fiorentina started at the same stage while their semi-final opponents Club Brugge will play their 17th European game of the campaign this week.
Villa’s last-four rivals Olympiacos came through two-legged tests against Ferencvaros, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Fenerbahce after dropping down from the Europa League.
Their dream of playing in a first-ever European final in their own backyard at the AEK Arena, home of one of their city rivals, is only two games away.
- ASTON VILLA TO BEAT OLYMPIACOS AND OVER 1.5 GOALS
- DOUGLAS LUIZ TO SCORE ANYTIME
- CLUB BRUGGE DOUBLE CHANCE AGAINST FIORENTINA
Aston Villa vs Olympiacos
Thursday’s match at Villa Park pits two sides under Spanish influences together as former Sevilla bosses Unai Emery and Jose Luis Mendilibar occupy the technical areas.
Emery’s superb record is almost unrivalled in the modern era as the serial silverware winner boasts a 57.5% win ratio in European club competitions.
Meanwhile, Mendilibar turned an unpromising situation at Sevilla into another Europa League trophy last season and he has lost only one of his last 15 continental ties ahead of this game.
His side have been much better at home than on the road this season and required some penalty shoot-out heroics from Konstantinos Tzolakis to make it past quarter-final rivals Fenerbahce after a 1-0 second-leg defeat in Istanbul.
Villa similarly needed some spot-kick showmanship from Emiliano Martinez to pass their toughest Euro test in Lille, but the Argentinean will be absent on Thursday because of suspension and injury.
Emery will turn to the experienced Robin Olsen in goal while Douglas Luiz and John McGinn will likely operate in midfield in the injury-enforced absence of Youri Tielemans.
Morgan Rogers and Leon Bailey should play on the wings while Moussa Diaby operates just behind Ollie Watkins in attack.
Villa have the weapons to secure a first-leg victory against an Olympiacos side that will be without suspended centre-back Andreas Ntoi.
Emery’s side have won all six of their home Conference League clashes this term, scoring multiple goals in five, and can claim another victory with a couple of goals on Thursday
ASTON VILLA WIN AND OVER 1.5 GOALS
Luiz A Good Bet To Score
Watkins has been Villa’s biggest attacking threat this season and Olympiacos would be right to focus on him as the man to stop.
But the lesser lights often come to the fore in games like this and become matchwinners, which is why Douglas Luiz could be a better bet to score a goal.
The Brazilian midfielder has bagged 10 times in total this season, which is comfortably the best seasonal tally of his career.
He takes penalties and free-kicks around the box and has been infallible from the spot on all five occasions he has stepped up this season.
Luiz could be called upon again on Thursday if Italian referee Marco Guida stays true to form.
No match official with more than 12 games under their belt in Serie A has awarded more spot-kicks than the 42-year-old, who has pointed to the spot seven times in 16 games.
Fiorentina vs Club Brugge
All of Florence went into mourning when Fiorentina lost out in a closely-fought Europa Conference League Final to West Ham last May.
But Vincenzo Italiano’s side appear ready to soothe some of that pain by reaching the final again, even if some of their performances have struggled to live up to last season’s efforts.
La Viola came through an uncomfortably close last-16 tie with Maccabi Haifa before waiting until extra time to see off Viktoria Plzen after 180 goalless minutes in the quarter-finals.
And after it took an 82nd-minute penalty for them to beat another Belgian club - Racing Genk - at home in the group stages, they will surely pay Club Brugge plenty of respect in Thursday’s first leg.
Fiorentina’s pressing style has brought them plenty of possession this season, but they have not always been able to turn their command of the ball into goals.
They lack a dependable marksman and have lately relied on wingers and midfielders chipping in for their end product.
They are a tempting price to secure a victory at Stadio Artemio Franchi, where they have won five and drawn six of their last 11 matches in this competition, but Club Brugge have been solid enough on the road to suggest they can avoid defeat.
Bar one slip-up at Molde when the Norwegians scored a stoppage-time winner, Brugge have won all of their European away games and should be full of confidence after a 3-0 win at the aforementioned Genk on Sunday.
