Douglas Luiz MISSES crucial penalty in dying stages of Aston Villa's shock 4-2 defeat by Olympiacos... as fans compare Brazilian's horrendous effort to Simone Zaza's infamous spot-kick for Italy

Aston Villa's Douglas Luiz was mocked for taking 'one of the worst penalties you will ever see' in Thursday's Europa Conference League semi-final defeat against Olympiacos.

The Greek visitors - owned by Nottingham Forest chief Evangelos Marinakis - stunned Unai Emery's Villa side as visiting striker Ayoub El Kaabi's hat-trick earned his side a deserved 4-2 victory.

Villa have it all to do in the second leg next week as they attempt to navigate their way to a historic major European final and Luiz will be aiming to produce a much improved performance in Athens.

The Brazilian is Villa's main penalty-taker having scored four times from the spot in the Premier League this season, but scuffed his latest effort at a crucial time in the game.

He was previously at fault earlier in the match after giving away a penalty for handball in the first half. 

Luiz was presented with a golden opportunity to reduce the deficit late on at Villa Park after Jhon Duran was brought down in the box just 10 minutes after making his introduction from the bench. 

A lengthy wait followed as Olympiacos players tried to disrupt the 25-year-old's routine and it proved to work as Diaz struck his effort against the post.

The ball then rolled out of play and Diaz - too embarrassed by the miss - pulled his Villa shirt up over his head as screams of delight in the away end of the stadium drowned out the groans of home supporters.

His Villa team-mates tried to rally as they attempted to force a way back into proceedings as critics on social media trolled the midfielder's scuffed effort.

One Clarets supporter was incredibly frustrated with Diaz' all-round performance, posting on X: 'Luiz pulling out one of the all time horrendous performances. 

'As if we saved up our worst performance for a long long time for our biggest night in years. Madness. That penalty miss feels absolutely pivotal.;

Another similarly added: 'One of the worst penalties you’ll ever see from Douglas Luiz, who’s had a dreadful game for Aston Villa.'

A third comment similarly read: 'Douglas Luiz with one of the worst penalty kicks.'

Others compared Luiz's tip-toe run-up to the infamous approach of former Italy national Simone Zaza who blasted his penalty over the bar in the Euro 2016 clash against Germany.

'What a penalty from Douglas Luiz. Reminiscent of the great Zaza,' said another comical post on social media.