Olympiacos v Aston Villa LIVE: Europa Conference League team news and line-ups as Emiliano Martinez starts semi-final

Olympiacos are attempting to become just the second Greek team to reach a major European final, and first since Panathinaikos in 1971.

It would be a special time to do it, with this season’s Europa Conference League final set to be staged in Athens.

Olympiacos coach Jose Luis Mendilibar: “Is this the biggest match of the season? I hope not. I hope there is one more.

“We have to be focused; the situation has not changed much since the first match. You qualify over two legs, and Aston Villa will play hard to reach the final, as will we.

“Both teams have a chance. The players are starting to believe in themselves and when you do that things can go a lot better.”

Can Aston Villa add to the all-time great European comebacks made by English sides?

It was this week five years ago that Liverpool came from 3-0 down to beat Barcelona 4-3 and Tottenham scored late goals to stun Ajax in the Champions League semi-finals.

So there’s plenty of recent inspiration as Villa try to come from 4-2 down and beat Olympiacos away from home, as Unai Emery’s side look to make history of their own.

Now that is a boost. Martinez was suspended last week but had missed Villa’s last two games with a thigh injury. He replaces Martin Olsen in goal.

Villa look a little light on the bench, however. There’s no Morgan Rogers, Nicolo Zaniolo or Youri Tielemans, with Moussa Diaby and Leon Bailey starting alongside Ollie Watkins.

HUGE for Villa! Emiliano Martinez STARTS!

Aston Villa XI: Martinez, Konsa, Carlos, Torres, Digne; Cash, McGinn, Luiz, Diaby; Bailey, Watkins

A simple message from the Aston Villa social channels: “Believe”.

We’ll have team news in the next 20 minutes or so as we build-up to kick-off in Greece.

Olympiacos midfielder Vicente Iborra on Unai Emery: “He is a coach that takes into consideration every detail which might happen in the match.

“He will try and have everything under control, convey his message to the players and anticipate what might happen in the match.

“I have learned many things from Mr Emery, but one thing I will never forget from him is, in order to find yourself in a final, in order to experience this great moment in your lifetime, one truly has to want that, one has to long for it.

“I believe the team that makes it to the final will be the one who wants it the most, who will strive the most.”

Olympiacos midfielder Vicente Iborra knows exactly what lengths Aston Villa boss Unai Emery will be going to in his bid to achieve more European glory.

Villa travel to Athens on Thursday for their Europa Conference League semi-final second leg, looking to overturn last week’s 4-2 first-leg deficit.

Emery has won the Europa League four times, three times with Sevilla and once with Villarreal, and Iborra was in his team on every occasion.

The pair are on opposite sides this time, but Iborra, who had a two-year stint with Leicester between 2017 and 2019, will be driven by one of the messages his former boss instilled in him.

Unai Emery has described tonight as the “biggest challenge” of Aston Villa’s season.

The Spaniard overcame a 2-0 first-leg defeat with Sevilla 10 years ago, in a Europa League comeback against Real Betis.

“Experiences can always help, being successful or not,” Emery said. “But we have to create and build a new way and we lost the first leg clearly.

“Tomorrow will be difficult to come back but we must play thinking to extend after the first 90 minutes, the game plan we had that didn’t work well but expect tomorrow to do better.

“It’s going to be very difficult here with the atmosphere.

“This is the challenge tomorrow, the biggest challenge we are going to face this year, playing in this semi-final.”

The problem with assuming a Europa League winner with Sevilla is bound to conquer the continent is that there is more than one of them. Unai Emery can seem the king of Europe, but a defending champion has one foot in the Europa Conference League final. Rather than Emery’s fifth European trophy, it could be Jose Luis Mendilibar’s second in as many years after, courtesy of Ayoub El Kaabi’s hat-trick, Olympiacos stormed Villa Park.

Aston Villa may retain hope of two trips to Athens this month, for the final as well as the semi-final second leg, but they came Acropolis in Birmingham, reports Richard Jolly

Morgan Rogers, Youri Tielemans and Nicolo Zaniolo are also doubts for Aston Villa.

“We have some players close to coming back but I don’t know exactly if they can play tomorrow or not,” Unai Emery said.