Fiorentina won Group F, going unbeaten in their six games, before victories over Maccabi Haifa, Viktoria Plzen and Club Brugge in the knockout stages
Olympiacos are focused on winning their first-ever European trophy in Athens by overcoming Fiorentina in the Conference League final.
Fiorentina will be aiming to make up for the disappointment of losing in the final to West Ham a year ago, but they face a very difficult task up against Aston Villa’s conquerors this year — who are on ‘home’ soil in the Greek capital on Wednesday.
Team news
Doron Leidner is still injured so is set to miss out for Olympiacos, who also have doubts over Francisco Ortega and Giulian Biancone heading into the final.
Ayoub El Kaabi will lead the line for the Greeks as he looks to add to his impressive record of 32 goals in 49 appearances in all competitions for them this season.
Riccardo Sottil is struggling with a shoulder injury so is expected to miss out for Fiorentina but the Italians have no other reported injury problems.
Italy international Andrea Belotti, who has hit eight goals for La Viola this term, is likely to lead the line.
After entering this competition as one of the third-placed Europa League sides, Olympiacos have beaten Ferencvaros, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Fenerbahce and Villa in the later rounds.
Fiorentina won Group F, going unbeaten in their six games, before victories over Maccabi Haifa, Viktoria Plzen and Club Brugge in the knockout stages.
The two sides have never met in European competition before.
Olympiacos are only the second Greek team to reach a senior UEFA final after Panathinaikos made it to the 1971 European Cup final before losing to Ajax 2-0.
Fiorentina are seeking their second major European trophy after winning the now-defunct Cup Winners’ Cup in 1961.
Prediction
This game is being staged in the Greek capital at the home of AEK Athens, just a short drive from Olympiacos’ Piraeus home.
That surely hands the Greeks a big advantage.
They are bound to have much more support inside the stadium and, buoyed by their fantastic performance in the last round when they thumped Villa 6-2 on aggregate, Olympiacos look the value pick to triumph.
Olympiacos made a mockery of the pre-match odds in the semi, which suggested the Premier League club would easily progress, and they appear to be underrated somewhat once more going into the final as they are again the underdogs.
Mendilibar’s side have grown in stature as the competition has gone on and even though Fiorentina will be desperate to make up for their agonising late defeat to the Hammers in this fixture 12 months ago, Olympiacos can prevail and lift their first ever European trophy.
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