‘We played bad’

Aston Villa manager Unai Emery admitted Olympiacos “deserved to win” the first leg of their UEFA Europa Conference League semi-final after a “bad” display from his side.

Emery will now need to inspire his team to an unlikely comeback in the second leg at the Karaiskakis Stadium on Thursday, May 9, and admitted to TNT Sports that Villa need to improve.

“We have to play better,” he said. “It’s not lucky. They deserved to win.

“We tried to be close to them. In the second half we were drawing the match, but again we played bad, and playing bad of course they are going to score.”

Villa went 2-0 down within 30 minutes, but goals from Ollie Watkins and Moussa Diaby either side of half-time drew the home side level.

Olympiacos regained their two-goal advantage quickly, however, with El Kaabi finishing off his hat-trick and Santiago Hezze scoring their fourth.

“We didn’t play like we are playing [in the Premier League],” said Emery. “We need to keep being consistent, playing with the ball as well, with positioning.”

He continued: “Today we lost a little bit our position on the pitch, and more or less threw it. They deserved to win.”

Villa face Brighton on Sunday before the return leg against Olympiacos in Athens.

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