Nottingham Forest proprietor winds up Aston Villa followers after Olympiacos defeat

Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis has been branded a hypocrite by Aston Villa fans following the Midlands club’s defeat to Olympiacos.

The 56-year-old, who also owns Olympiacos, was at Villa Park last night as his side ran out 4-2 winners to put one foot in the Conference League final. After the game, Marinakis strolled across the pitch to celebrate with the away supporters, much to the annoyance of Villa fans.

The game was littered with controversy, with Unai Emery’s men being put the sword by a number of contentious VAR decisions, and fans were keen to remind Marinakis of his supposed stance on the tech after the tie.

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“All of a sudden [Marinakis] loves VAR and thinks the officials are completely competent. Wonder whyyyyyyyy,” one X user wrote, referencing the furious statements Forest put out after their defeat to Everton last month questioning the integrity of Premier League officials.

“Bet he won’t complain about the ref and VAR tonight. Really can’t stand him,” another wrote. “Such a hypocrite,” a third added, “suddenly he’s got no problem with VAR after being prepared to go to war with the Prem a couple weeks ago.”

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The Villains thought they’d taken the lead in the tie after just eight minutes when Leon Bailey headed home from close range, but the goal was softly chalked off due to a shirt pull moments before. Olympiacos then went in front via Ayoub El Kaabi, whose strike was initially ruled by an offside flag, but later awarded following a VAR review.

El Kaabi made it 2-0 a few minutes later, but Villa came roaring back and felt they should have had a penalty when Bailey was tumbled to the ground in the box by Olympiacos defender Francisco Ortega, only for it to be waved away by both the referee and VAR.

Seconds later they pulled one back through Ollie Watkins, who fired home from a tight angle on the edge of the six yard area, and the tie was levelled just after the break thanks to Moussa Diaby, who smashed the ball beyond keeper Konstantinos Tzolakis from an even tighter angle.

But their Greek opponents were gifted a momentum-swinger after the referee awarded a penalty when Panagiotis Retsos’ header struck Douglas Luiz on the arm, which El Kaabi duly converted to complete his hattrick.

The visitors then went 4-2 up after Santiago Hezze’s deflected effort from outside the box spun past Villa keeper Robin Olsen. But with 10 minutes to go, Luiz was later given the chance to reduce the deficit after Villa were awarded a penalty, only for his effort to strike the outside of the post.

It means Villa will need to win by at least two goals in the return leg next week to stand any chance of making their first European final since 1982, when they famously beat Bayern Munich to lift the European Cup.