Olympiakos defeated Italian side Fiorentina 1-0 to win the Europa Conference League title on Wednesday night, in the final played at AEK Arena in Athens, Greece.
Moroccan striker, Ayoub El Kaabi struck four minutes from the end of extra time as Olympiakos become the first Greek side to win a European trophy.
The final was high on intensity and physicality but low on quality in front of goal, neither side could find the net in the regulation 90 minutes, but El Kaabi scored the winner in the 116th minute, after he bundled in Santiago Hezze’s cross.
However, the players and fans had a long, nervous wait for the video assistant referee to check for offside before the goal was eventually awarded.
Jose Luis Mendilibar became Olympiakos’ third manager of the season in February, and has now won a European honour for the second successive campaign, having guided Sevilla to UEFA Europa League glory last season.
Mendilibar became Sevilla boss in March last year, and won the Europa League two months later, but got sacked in October.
It is a second year of dramatic heartbreak for Fiorentina after the Italian side were beaten by West Ham in last season’s final. They become the first club to lose in the same European competition in consecutive seasons since Benfica in the Europa League in 2013 and 2014.
