Nottingham Forest FC owner Evangelos Marinaki celebrates with Olympiacos fans after they defeat Aston Villa

Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis has been seen celebrating with Olympiacos supporters following their victory over Aston Villa in the first leg of their Europa Conference League semi-final tie.

After the game, he joined the Olympiacos fans in the away end at Villa Park, giving high-fives to those in attendance after their win against the Villans.

Marinakis took over Forest in 2017. Since then, the Greek entrepreneur has overseen the Trees’ first promotion to the Premier League since 1999, when they defeated Huddersfield Town in the 2021/22 Championship playoff final.

He purchased Olympiacos in 2010 and has been their owner ever since. Under his ownership, the Red-Whites have won ten Greek Super League titles and four Greek Cups.

Additionally, Marinakis also owns Rio Ave the Primeira Liga and is a city councillor Piraeus. Furthermore, the 56-year-old is also the owner of Greek media outlets Mega Channel and One Channel.

Olympiacos would go on to defeat Villa by a score of 4-2 at Villa Park. Ayoub El Kaabi scored a hattrick, with a fourth goal being added by Santiago Hezze. Villa’s goals were scored by Ollie Watkins and Moussa Diaby - Douglas Luiz had a chance to net a third with a penalty, but curled his effort wide of the post.

Marinakis is no stranger to controversy in the world of football. He was reportedly furious after Forest’s defeat against Everton earlier in the season, where Forest were denied three potential penalties - the club took to X (formerly Twitter) after the incident to express their discontent. The statement was a scathing one - and Marinakis allegedly wished for it to be even more so.

The statement read: “Three extremely poor decisions -three penalties not given - which we simply cannot accept. We were warned by the PGMOL that the VAR is a Luton fan before the game but they didn't change him. Our patience has been tested multiple times. NFFC will now consider its options.”