Ayoub El Kaabi’s first ever season in European football competition ended not only as a top goal scorer but also with the trophy as he netted a 116th minutes strike to win the UEFA Conference League for Olympiacos.
It is the first European trophy not only for the Greek side but the first ever club-level European trophy for any Greek club. The 30-year-old was instrumental all through the entire European season for the club, with 16 goals in total.
A breakdown shows he had two in Europa League qualifiers, three in Europa League group stages, and 11 in Europa Conference League knockout rounds. This prolific striker matched Cristiano Ronaldo’s number as the top scorer in the Champions League in 2015/2016 for Real Madrid with sixteen goals in total in a single European season.
It was a disappointing second successive UEFA Europa Conference League (UECL) final defeat for Fiorentina after their capitulation in Athens.
The start of the game was balanced as both sides searched for an early opener, but Fiorentina were more direct as after Olympacos’ Daniel Podence forced a smart save from Filippo Terracciano, Fiorentina’s Nikola Milenković tapped in after a corner but his goal was ruled out for offside.
Giacomo Bonaventura got close for Fiorentina in the opening half, as he almost scored just like in last year’s UECL final but his weak effort ea easily held by Konstantinos Tzolakis.
Interestingly, Ayoub El Kaabi was kept silent in the first half and while the first half ended goalless, there were more chances in the second half but Fiorentina’s Milenkovic headed wide from a corner and teammate Christian Kouame had his effort saved by Olympiacos goalkeeper.
Nothing came forth both in the closing stages and extra time until Ayoub El Kaabi came forth with a header with four minutes to a penalty shootout to seal the trophy.
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