Ayoub El Kaabi’s extra-time headed winner secured Olympiacos the 2023-24 UEFA Europa Conference League title, following a 1-0 win over Fiorentina in the Final in Athens.
El Kaabi nodded in Santiago Hezze’s cross in the 116th minute to seal a maiden European crown for Olympiacos, which came at Agia Sophia Stadium, Athens, in a 20 minute drive from their home stadium.
Fiorentina consequently were condemned to a second consecutive defeat in this competition’s final, having also lost in 2023.
Having endured the heartbreak of losing last year’s final to West Ham, Fiorentina began the match as favourites but Pietro Terracciano came to their rescue in the fourth minute, as he blocked Ayoub El Kaabi’s low strike.
Fiorentina however counter-attacked from Olympiacos’ corner as Dodo’s cross was air-kicked by Christian Kouame, yet Andrea Belotti could only find the side-netting.
The Italian team went even closer from a ninth minute corner conceded by Olympiacos’ Panagiotis Retos, as the delivery was turned in by Nikola Milenkovic, but the Serbian defender was offside.
Belotti had another chance in the 21st minute but Konstantinos Tzolakis blocked his shot out to Giacomo Bonaventura, although the 34 year-old midfielder’s rebound effort was saved by Tzolakis.
Both teams soon exchanged chances of little note throughout the remainder of the first-half which eventually finished goalless.
The second half struggled to see a rise in quality as both teams continued to cancel each other out across the pitch, with El Kaabi often kept quiet by Milenkovic’s resilient marking whilst the defender also headed wide from a 65th minute corner.
Vicente Iborra almost broke the deadlock for Olympiacos with a 80th minute header from a deep free-kick by substitute, Andre Horta, but he nodded just wide of the left corner.
El Kaabi four minutes later put his own header wide as Olympiacos struggled to find the decisive clinical touch to force a late winner, which didn’t came as Fiorentina clung on to force extra time for the first time in the final of this competition.
Extra time saw both teams continue to cancel each other out despite Olympiacos’ Stevan Jovetic curling wide in the 97th minute.
Fiorentina however started the second half of extra-time strongly and almost took a 110th minute lead, only for Jonathan Ikone to scruff his shot which was saved by Tzolakis.
Penalties soon loomed large for both teams until an Olympiacos counter-attack eventually saw the ball curled into the box, with El Kaabi alert to nod Santiago Hezze’s delivery into the left corner to seal a maiden European title for Olympiacos despite a tense VAR check.
Iborra crucially denied Ikone in the first minute of injury-time as the Greek team held out for their first title in all UEFA competitions.
Teams
Olympiacos: Konstantinos Tzolakis, Rodinei, Francisco Ortega (Quini 90′), Santiago Hezze, Panagiotis Retos, David Carmo, Kostas Fortunis (Jovetic 73′), Vicente Iborra, Ayoub El Kaabi (El-Arabi 122′), Chiquinho (Horta 77′), Daniel Podence (Masouras 105′)
Substitutes: Alexandros Paschalakis, Andre Horta, Youssef El-Arabi, Sotiris Alexandropoulos, Quini, Georgios Masouras, Joao Carvalho, Stevan Jovetic, Omar Richards, Apostolos Apostolopoulos, Andreas Ntoi, Athansios Papadoudis
Fiorentina: Pietro Terracciano, Dodo, Cristiano Biraghi (Ranieri 105′), Rolando Mandragora, Nikola Milenkovic, Lucas Martinez Quarta, Nicolas Gonzalez (Beltran 105′), Arthur (Duncan 74′), Andrea Belotti (Nzola 59′), Giacomo Bonaventura (Barak 82′), Christian Kouame (Ikone 82′)
Substitutes: Maximo Lopez, Lucas Beltran, Jonathan Ikone, Luca Ranieri, M’Bala Nzola, Gino Infantino, Davide Faraoni, Alfred Duncan, Michael Kayode, Oliver Christiansen, Fabiano Parisi, Antonin Barak
Referee: Artur Soares Dias (Portugal)