Despite a valiant effort until the final whistle, Fenerbahçe fell short, ending the match with a one-goal deficit away at Olympiacos.

Kostas Fortounis was instrumental, scoring and assisting, leading the hosts to a 3-2 victory in the first leg of the Europa Conference League quarterfinals.

Despite Olympiacos building a commanding 3-0 lead in Piraeus, the Yellow Canaries fought back with two second-half goals but ultimately could not complete the comeback.

Fortounis opened the scoring after just eight minutes, netting his fifth goal of the European campaign. He then set up Stevan Jovetic to double the lead before halftime.

Chiquinho made it 3-0 with a precise low drive approaching the hour mark before Dusan Tadic pulled one back from the penalty spot and İrfan Can Kahveci added the second for Fenerbahçe.

Olympiacos is one of the two Greek teams in the last eight hoping to reach a home final in Athens.

The other, PAOK, was playing at Club Brugge later Thursday.

Viktoria Plzen held last year's runner-up Fiorentina to a 0-0 draw in what was the first European quarterfinal for the Czech club, which hasn't conceded a goal for seven straight games in the third-tier competition.

As Fiorentina looked in control in the second half, the match was interrupted for several minutes because of flares that its fans threw onto the pitch.

Aston Villa was hosting Lille in the other quarterfinal.

The second-leg games will be played next week.