This year’s UEFA Europa Conference League Final is set to take place in the coming days, the second of three UEFA European competitions to come to a conclusion after Atalanta beat Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League Final last week.
The 2024 final will award just the third trophy in the competition’s history after being founded in 2022, with Roma and West Ham United being the initial two winners of the tournament.
Olympiacos secured a spot in the final with a stunning victory over Aston Villa in the semi-finals, while Fiorentina return to the final for the second consecutive year, determined to correct past mistakes and claim victory this time around.
Olympiacos vs Fiorentina
Wednesday 29 May, 20:00
OPAP Arena
Olympiacos went into their semi-final with Aston Villa as the underdogs with the English club widely seen as the favourites to go on and win the competition based on the last four teams in the tournament.
The Greek side were fantastic across the 180 minutes though, first travelling to Villa Park and shocking Unai Emery’s men by taking a 2-0 lead within 28 minutes. Villa did manage to equalise just after halftime but Olympiacos scored twice more and took a 4-2 lead into their home leg.
While many were still confident that Villa would manage to turn the tie around, Ayoub El Kaabi scored twice to win the game 2-0 for his side and book their place in the coming final. His five goals across the two legs made him the first player since Radamel Falcao in 2011-12 to score five in a European competition semi-final.
They come into this game not only with the massive confidence that victory would have given them but also on a run of just one defeat in their last 12 games and with the final set to take place just 10 miles from their home ground, they will be in high spirits heading into this one.
As for Fiorentina, they return to the Europa Conference League Final for the second time in as many years and they will be looking to go one better than last season with a victory here.
Despite dominating last season’s final, holding 68% of the ball and taking 17 shots compared to West Ham’s eight, the Hammers twice took the lead with the second goal coming from Jarrod Bowen in the 90th minute.
The heartbreak of that defeat has clearly spurned the Italians on this campaign, yet to lose across any of the 12 games they have played in the competition this time around.
Their semi-final with Club Brugge was one of the most exciting European semi-finals we have seen. The first leg saw the Italians twice take the lead and twice be drawn back level, with Club Brugge’s second goal coming just moments after having one of their players sent off.
Fiorentina were dominant from the second equaliser and came close to a winner on multiple occasions before substitute M’Bala Nzola eventually scored the third goal in the 91st minute, just three minutes after entering the pitch.
The Italians left it late again in the second leg, going 1-0 down in the 20th minute leaving the scores level before eventually scoring the winning goal in the 85th minute thanks to a Lucas Beltran penalty.
They come into this game with just two losses in their last 12 across all competitions, something that will also leave them in good spirits.
Bet9ja Tips
El Kaabi has scored an incredible 10 goals in this competition so far and leads the scoring charts with two more than anyone else has managed. After scoring five times across the semifinals the striker will have plenty of confidence heading into the final, and we believe El Kaabi will get on the scoresheet again here. You can get odds of El Kaabi to score anytime of 3.25 with Bet9ja.
With the final taking place in Greece and just 10 miles from Olympiacos’s home stadium, the Olympiacos fans are likely to be out in full force, almost making the game feel like a home tie for the Greek side.
This support is sure to play a big part in the final, and the side will still be extremely confident after their phenomenal win against the competition favourites Aston Villa in the last round. For these reasons, we believe that Olympiacos will secure victory in this game and hand Fiorentina their second consecutive defeat in the final of this competition.
Bet9ja Odds (at time of writing, 90 minutes only): Olympiacos win: 3.25, Fiorentina win: 2.44
Booking Codes:
6NK22Y8, 6NK26XX, 6NK2853
9 Comments
by Saheed bashir Akanbi
Olympiacos win
by ABUH DANIEL
Abuhdan
12242325
Fiorentina will win olympiacos piraeus
by Adeyinka
Fiorentina
by Gbenga ogundeji
Fiorentina to win 1-0
by Kayode
Johnson
by Aliyu Abdussalam
Fiorentina 2: 1
by Henry
Florentina to win 3:1
by Okwuego
Correct score 1-1
by Samuel Joseph
Olympiacos to win