One week ago, Aston Villa's surprise 4-2 defeat against Olympiakos in the first leg of their Europa Conference League semi-final boiled down to the cauldron of chaos that the Greek side created at Villa Park.
Yesterday, seven days on, Aston Villa felt the weight of a protracted campaign as they sought to overturn their two-goal deficit but saw that aggregate gulf double as Olympiakos exalted in their success.
The disciplined, well-organised hosts absorbed the early pressure from Unai Emery's squad and escaped from the scrum to allow Ayoub El Kaabi to tap in after ten minutes, adding to his first-leg hat-trick and indeed bloating his haul once more with an excess strike late on, leaving the weary Villans with no complaints.
Zest and zeal gradually decayed into bleak resignation and acceptance that Villa had fallen short. Plenty failed to produce their finest performances, but Moussa Diaby must be particularly disappointed.
Moussa Diaby's performance vs Olympiakos
Aston Villa signed Diaby from Bayer Leverkusen in a club-record £52m deal last summer to great fanfare, and while he has displayed flashes of brilliance Diaby has not performed at the levels of fellow forwards such as Ollie Watkins and Leon Bailey.
Premier League
36
6
7
Conference League
11
3
1
FA Cup
3
1
0
UECL Qualifiers
1
0
0
Carabao Cup
1
0
0
Diaby scored a goal and an assist apiece during Villa's first encounter with Thrylos this season but he failed to replicate his potent performance in Piraeus, bogged down at the centre of the mire that was Villa's toothless attacking display.
Hooked before the hour mark, the Frenchman only managed 29 touches, and while he completed 80% of his passes, Diaby failed to take a shot or make a single key pass, lost four of his five contested duels and succeeded with just one of his four attempted dribbles, as per Sofascore.
Not good. Not representative of Diaby's skill set, with Birmingham Live's John Townley marking Diaby with a 4/10 match rating – the joint-lowest of the evening – and writing: 'Missed Villa's first big chance of the second leg after Bailey picked him out inside the box. Tzolis rushed out to thwart Diaby at a tight angle. He was replaced before the hour mark.'
He wasn't the only struggler on a fiery evening in the Athens Riviera, with Douglas Luiz failing to rise to the occasion. The Brazil international has enjoyed a first-class campaign but he's toiled in recent weeks. His fortunes did not improve at the Karaiskakis Stadium.
Why Douglas Luiz is letting Emery down
Luiz has been grasping for form in recent weeks and after missing a late penalty at Villa Park, he failed to redeem himself and languished at the epicentre of a bitter cup exit.
Pre-match, the former Manchester City man was rightly picked out as the fulcrum. But his performance would always dictate the contest's fluency, how the scales would tilt. The 26-year-old needed a big performance.
But, the birthday boy's party was spoiled in Greece as Olympiakos' discipline and determination overpowered the quality and style of Emery's side, who fell at the penultimate hurdle.
Townley also placed a 4/10 score on the 5 foot 10 midfielder's shoulders and while he noted that he 'used the ball well and helped Villa sustain pressure' in the the opening phase, he 'lost confidence as the game went on' following some 'wasteful distribution' and ultimately failed to produce the elimination-preventing performance needed.
Minutes played
90'
Touches
98
Accurate passes
70/79 (89%)
Shots taken
2
Key passes
1
Possession lost
15x
Dribble attempts
0
Tackles
2
Interceptions
1
Clearances
1
Duels won
4/10
For the most part, the playmaker maintained some crisp passing, but he only sent the ball into a position of promise once, didn't attempt a single dribble and lost the ball 15 times, with that stray passing contributing to a lack of fluidity that sent Villa's European conquest into a spin.
He also lost six of his ten contested duels – it simply wasn't his night and the player is likely feeling the weight of this lengthy campaign, starting 47 matches in all competitions and playing more minutes (4,181) than any teammate barring defender Ezri Konsa (4,191).
As per FBref, Luiz ranks among the top 7% of midfielders across Europe's top five leagues over the past year for goals, the top 17% for assists and the top 16% for shot-creating actions per 90.
He's so dynamic, endowed with elite athletic swagger and imbued with a creative twang that has led The Athletic's Jacob Tanswell to entitle him "the complete player".
But he fell by the wayside with his teammates on Thursday, failed to muster the kind of performance that has been showcased so many joyous times under Emery's guidance.
The Spanish manager will rue his side's meek, disjointed efforts. In the end, they were well beaten. Emery's track record on the continent, four Europa League trophies with two different clubs, led many to believe that Villa were destined for the title before the first screeching whistle had been blown at the start of the season.
It wasn't to be. But that's football. The Villans will now look ahead to their final two matches of the Premier League campaign with the knowledge that they hold fourth place and a seven-point advantage over Tottenham Hotspur.
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The Midlands side have suffered a setback. But they will rally. They will continue to go from strength to strength and fight once again on the biggest European stage next season.