Olympiacos boss: We are not still favourites against Aston Villa

Speaking on Wednesday in Greece, during a press conference which occasionally veered toward the poetic in tone, the Basque head coach warned his team must play with both “mind and soul” if they are to reach the final.

But he dismissed the idea Olympiacos have now replaced Villa as favourites to progress after winning last week’s first leg 4-2.

“I do not believe the roles have been reversed,” he said. “The qualification is at the end. What they have done last week (overturning a two-goal deficit) they could do tomorrow. They will be extremely serious to get qualification. Both clubs have their share of chances to win.”

The nature of the questions put to Mendilibar, coupled with the media presence at the Georgios Karaiskaki Stadium, left no doubt as to the size of the match for Olympiacos, who are bidding to become the first Greek team to win a major European trophy.

But this is also another big game in the career of their head coach who, at the age of 63, is experiencing something of an Indian summer.

For all his credible work in Spain, most notably with Eibar, Mendilibar had not won a major trophy before winning the Europa League with Sevilla last year after taking over in March with the team struggling.

Now he has a chance to repeat the feat with Olympiacos. Such has been his impact on a team who had gone through two previous managers this term before his arrival, one journalist asked if he has performed a miracle in turning round their fortunes.

Mendilibar, sacked himself by Sevilla in October after a poor start to the campaign, even thanked the Spanish club for their part in putting him where he is now.

“I never thought originally I would have made it so far, claiming places in finals of European competitions,” he said. “That is why I would like to thank Sevilla, if it wasn’t for my firing in Sevilla I wouldn’t be here. I was hired by Sevilla and won the cup with Sevilla.

“Then I was fired by Sevilla. If that had not happened I would not be here. Things are going well right now, but I want to put the emphasis on the players. It is all about the players. They have got us here.”

Tonight is the 16th meeting between Mendilibar and Emery, though the head coach cannot claim to know the latter as well as his midfielder, Vicente Iborra.

The latter was in Emery’s team for all four of his Europa League wins, three with Sevilla and one with Villarreal and provided an insight into the secret behind the now Villa boss’ success.

“I have learned many things from Mr Emery,” he said. “But one thing I will never forget from him, 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.”

“What I truly I know about Emery is he 100 per cent believes he can knock us out,” warned Mendilibar. “He truly wants that and that is a great weapon.”

Asked if he had a message for the home fans, Mendilibar replied: “The message is the following, we will give everything we have got.

“We will try to make them happy because we know we love the team, we have experienced that, we have sensed that because they attend all matches.

“We know for the fans what this means. We will give 100 per cent, we will play the best we can to make the dream come true because we know what it means to our fans.”