29th May, 2024
By Kazeem Ugbodaga
Ayoub El Kaabi struck a late goal in extra-time on Wednesday as Olympiacos Piraeus defeated Fiorentina by a lone goal to win the Conference League in Athens, Greece.
It was the first European trophy for Olympiacos in their 99 years history.
The match had ended goalless after 90 minutes which necessitated and extra-time and possible penalty shootout to decide the winner.
El Kaabi scored four minutes to the end of extra-time to hand over the trophy to Olympiacos.
The Moroccan leapt to meet an excellent cross and steered a fantastic header past the goalkeeper, inside the left post.
Earlier in the game, Daniel Podence picked up the ball, dribbled to the edge of the penalty area and unleashed a brilliant shot to the bottom right corner, but was thwarted by a great save from Pietro Terracciano.
Mid-first half, Giacomo Bonaventura was first to latch onto the rebound inside the penalty area. He drilled a low shot towards the middle of the goal, but it was denied by the goalkeeper who pulled off a superb save.
In the 22nd minute, Bonaventura came close to scoring. He connected with a pass inside the box and directed his shot straight at Konstantinos Tzolakis.
Three minutes later, Daniel Podence jumped inside the box to meet the corner and aimed a low header towards middle of the goal, but the goalkeeper showed his reflexes to stop the effort.
In the 69th minute, Christian Kouame collected a great pass inside the box and missed a sitter. His shot was directed towards the left post, but the goalkeeper pulled off a marvelous diving save and denied him.
Vicente Iborra, in the 80th minute displayed good awareness near the penalty spot to get on the end of a cross from the free kick, but he steered his header narrowly wide off the left post.
