Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis’ Olympiacos stand in the way of Aston Villa’s European dream… the Greek side have their own Europa League winning coach and will count on an on-loan Wolves outcast in attack

Aston Villa’s bid for a first European final since 1982 will see Unai Emery’s side come up against an increasing familiar face, with Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis expected to be in the stands to watch his Olympiacos side.

The 56-year-old has been in the headlines having been reported to have been behind Forest’s explosive social media post after their 2-0 defeat to Everton last month.

Marinakis had been furious when his team were denied three penalties at Goodison Park, with the club posting they had warned the PGMOL about VAR official Stuart Attwell being a fan of Luton Town, their relegation rivals.

He had also been a visible presence on the touchline after Forest’s 1-0 loss to Liverpool in March, after the club felt they had been wronged by a controversial decision ahead of the Reds’ winner.

The colourful owner will take a brief break from Forest’s relegation battle with Olympiacos currently enjoying their best European run of his tenure.

The shipping magnate bought the Greek giants in 2010 and has presided over Olympiacos’ dominance of the the Greek Super League.

Olympiacos have won 10 of 13 league titles under his ownership, while they have regularly bloodied the noses of English teams in Europe.

Arsenal have played Olympiacos 12 times during the Marinakis era with the teams sharing six wins apiece. Olympiacos dumped the Gunners out of the Europa League in 2020, with the Gunners gaining revenge the following year.

West Ham and Tottenham have also travelled to Karaiskakis Stadium in recent years and failed to win, while Wolves narrowly emerged as 2-1 winners in a Europa League last-16 tie in 2020.

There is the additional motivation for Olympiacos of this season’s Conference League final taking place in Greece, at the home of rivals AEK Athens.

Marinakis took control of Olympiacos in 2010 in the aftermath of the country’s financial crisis. His father, Miltiadis, had been an investor in the team and was reportedly fanatical in his support of the club.

His son ultimately inherited the family business in the 1990s. Now he is chairman and founder of Capital Maritime and Trading Corps, a major player in the industry which controls about 120 vessels. 

Evangelos then followed his father in investing into Olympiacos, stating that he had bought the Greek giants because of his love of the club, which is said to hold a ‘special place’ in his his heart.

While Olympiacos secured seven straight titles between 2011 and 2017, Marinakis has been a divisive and outspoken figure in the sport.

Marinakis has been charged with several serious offences during his time in Greek football before being cleared.

He was acquitted of charges of complicity to commit acts of bribery and match manipulation in 2015 as part of the wider Koriopolis match-fixing scandal in Greek football. 

Marinakis broke the rules by entering the referee’s changing room at half-time during the 2014 Greek Cup final between Olympiacos and Asteras Tripolis but again was acquitted in both the first trial and an appeal hearing.

Allegations that Marinakis conspired with the president of the Greek Football Association to choose referees for specific games, which almost led to his imprisonment, were finally quashed by the Greek Supreme Court in 2018.

Marinakis had insisted he had been the victim ‘of a plot’ when insisting his innocence, accusing other teams of being ‘jealous’ of the success enjoyed by Olympiacos.

‘The things I am accused of couldn’t be further from my mentality and the way I operate as a person,’ Marinakis said in 2017. ‘They are not only untrue, they are unthinkable. 

‘I do not answer publicly, by choice. Maybe it is a mistake, since others speak all the time, but it is not in my philosophy to feed the small-minded, vicious cycle of unsubstantiated yellow rumours. I prefer justice to take its course, no matter how long this will take in Greece.’

Away from football, he was charged with drug trafficking in March 2018 after the tanker Noor One was found to be carrying 2.1 tonnes of heroin in 2014. Marinakis always denied wrongdoing.

The Olympiacos owner has also repeatedly hit out at officiating in Greece, notably claiming in 2022 that his side be been the victims of a ‘rigged referee and federation’ after Panathinaikos scored a late penalty to earn a draw against his side.

‘It is one of the biggest massacres,’ he said. ‘From the first minute, with a rigged referee, a rigged federation, Greek football is going from bad to worse.

‘I’m happy because all these great players proved they can play very nice football and win, we even beat the referee who from the first minute was rigged. That’s what I have to say, we’re winners in the end.’ No evidence has emerged to suggest this was the case.

He is far from the first Greek owner to criticising refereeing. Greek officials threatened a strike last year, claiming they had become a ‘a permanent target’ by club owners.

‘Announcements that go unpunished, bullying, threats, verbal and physical attacks — these are just some of the issues that have made football toxic,’ referees wrote in a letter to the central refereeing committee and the Greek Football Association.

Marinakis has also earned praise for his generosity.  During the refugee crisis of 2016, Marinakis used the Olympiacos kitchens to feed some of the migrants who had crossed into Greece. 

He has transformed the port of Piraeus, south-west of Athens, since the Greek economic crisis, and put himself at the heart of the fight against racism and discrimination in football.

Shakhtar Donetsk director Darijo Srna also hailed Marinakis, after the Greek side hosted the first of their Global Tour for Peace matches in 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

‘I spoke with the owner of Olympiacos (Evangelos Marinakis) and his son only two days before and we agreed to play the game,’ Srna told the Daily Mail in 2022. ‘All the money is being sent to Ukraine, so I have big respect for the owner. 

‘He even proposed that we stay here for two months, he will pay for everything, he will give the pitch to us. Lots of presidents and owners are using the situation to receive players for free, but he is not doing that.’

Marinakis has also earned praise from managers, despite Olympiacos’ success on the pitch being accompanied by regular changes in the dugout.

A total of 22 head coaches have been hired during the Marinakis era, ranging from the likes of Ernesto Valverde, Leondro Jardim, Michel and Marco Silva. 

Olympiacos began this season with Diego Martinez as head coach, with the Spaniard revealing to Marca in November what it is like to work under Marinakis.

‘He is a person with a lot of charisma, he and the entire management body, he is the first Olympiacos fan, he feels a lot about the club and the coexistence is being productive,’ he said.

‘We are both temperamental, and I am grateful to him for this opportunity. A successful president in the business world, with multi-million dollar companies, a citizen of the world, who in addition to us owns Nottingham Forest and other companies of brutal magnitude.

‘That success has to do with intelligence, determination, charisma and knowing how to make the right decisions at the right time, which is what makes the difference.’

Despite his praise, Martinez did not last much longer with the coach relieved of his duties in December, before Carlos Carvalhal had a brief 11 match spell in charge.

The current incumbent is Jose Luis Mendilibar, who shares the honour of Emery in having led Sevilla to Europa League glory.

Mendilibar had taken over the Spanish side last year before eliminating Man United on route to lifting the trophy, beating Jose Mourinho’s Roma on penalties in the final. 

The 63-year-old has admitted his side face a significant challenge in Aston Villa in the two legged semi-final, with Greek media billing the clash as the biggest in Olympiacos’ history,

‘We will prepare this match in the same way we do for all games,’ Mendilibar said. This match is significant, but we will not change anything regarding our preparation, and we are here to win it. 

‘They are a team playing in the world’s best league and are in fourth position; that alone shows that they are a tough opponent.

‘We have great respect for them, and we know that it will be a difficult game, but we have respect for all of our opponents. We have a chance to win. 

‘It’s an important match and we have the opportunity to participate in a European final to be held in Athens. We will work hard to achieve this goal. 

‘When you play against a team like Aston Villa, any mistake can cost you a lot, so we need to limit our mistakes. 

‘Aston Villa is a team that can take the score to 2–0 without much possession, as they did in the previous match, but they can also concede goals for the same reason.’

Olympiacos have also had significant player turnover during Marinakis’ time at the club.

The Greek giants have attracted the likes of Marcelo and James Rodriguez to the club in recent seasons, but have not been afraid to jettison underperforming big name players.

Rodriguez had his contract terminated by the club in 2023 after the Colombian had made 23 appearances for the team.

A third place finish in the Greek Super League last season was met with an overhaul of the squad, with 17 new players arriving in the summer.

One of the notable additions was Daniel Podence, with the Portuguese winger returning to the club on loan from Wolves.

Podence had starred on his previous spell at Olympiacos, notably terrorising Tottenham in a Champions League match to earn the club a 2-2 draw in 2019.

The winger is no stranger to matches against Aston Villa having scored in a Midlands derby only last year. 

His return this summer came after he fell out of favour at Wolves, but he is expected to carry the greatest threat in the Europa Conference League semi-final.

The squad also includes Youssef El Arabi, who scored a famous winning goal to eliminate Arsenal from the Europa League in 2020, as well as former Man City forward Stevan Jovetic.

Given Marinakis’ ownership of the two clubs, there are links to Nottingham Forest in the Olympiacos squad.

Omar Richards is on loan from the Premier League strugglers, while Joao Carvalho joined permanently from Forest in 2022.