Olympiakos advances as AEK and Panathinaikos crash out of Europe

Olympiakos and PAOK will represent Greece in Europe in the new year, playing in the knock-out stages of the Europa Conference League, while AEK and Panathinaikos dropped out of Europe after their losses on Thursday.

Olympiakos produced an emphatic display at home, behind closed doors as will be the norm in Greece for the next couple of months, and defeated Backa Topola 5-2 to finish third in its Europa League group and continue in the Conference League.

The Reds had Daniel Podence (twice), Ayoub El Kaabi and Youssef El-Arabi on target, plus an own goal by Veljko Ilic, while the 10-man Serbs scored through Ifet Djakovac and Aleksandar Cirkovic.

The Piraeus team finished its group third, with seven points, and will contest the Conference League play-offs.

Panathinaikos wasted a huge chance to make the knock-out stages of the Conference League, as it failed...