Olympiakos: El Kaabi, the C4 as a racing car

By winning the Europa League final against Fiorentina on Wednesday (1-0 a.p.), Olympiakos became the first Greek club ever to win a European Cup. The Piraeus-based club owes much of its success to striker Ayoub El Kaabi.

It took until the end of the night and the 116th minute of a frankly unexciting final to finally see the light. For the 16th and final time in this season’s Europa League, Olympiakos striker Ayoub El Kaabi scored against Fiorentina (1-0 a.p.), just when it was expected, to give Greek soccer its first European trophy.

El Kaabi does better than Falcao, Ronaldo and Benzema

This goal marked not only the history of the Land of the Gods, but also the personal destiny of El Kaabi. The 30-year-old striker, who discovered the European Cup this year after various experiences in Morocco, China, Turkey and Qatar, became the top scorer in a single season in the knockout phase of all European competitions. With 11 goals since the round of 16 (5 against Aston Villa in the semi-finals, 3 against Maccabi Tel-Aviv in the 8th round, 2 against Ferencvaros in the round of 16, in addition to his goal in the final), the Atlas Lion is ahead of Radamel Falcao (2010-2011 in C3), Cristiano Ronaldo (2016-2017 in C1) and Karim Benzema (2021-2022 in C1), scorers of 10 goals,the latter two having never played in the Round of 16.

El Kaabi’s goal, the first by a Moroccan in a European Cup final, also enabled his coach José Luis Mendilibar to become only the second coach to win back-to-back European Cups with two different clubs. The Spaniard, who arrived in Piraeus last February, had already achieved the feat of winning the Europa League with Sevilla last season, when he was also appointed to the bench during the campaign. Only Rafael Benitez, who won the UEFA Cup with Valencia in 2004 and the Champions League with Liverpool in 2005, had managed to do so.

The Viola cursed

On the other hand, Vincenzo Italiano’s Fiorentina continue to be cursed in C4. The Florentine club have just lost their second consecutive final in the competition, in a manner at least as cruel as last season’s 1-2 defeat by West Ham, in which they lost to a last-minute Jarrod Bowen goal. By finishing 8th in Serie A and thus failing to win the damned C4, Fio have nonetheless hit the jackpot for a third successive appearance in the competition next season. If Fiorentina are to lose another final, it will be on May 28 in Wroclaw…