Europe League
Bayer Leverkusen loses final against Atalanta Bergamo
Atalanta Bergamo celebrates the goal scorer Ademola Lookman (M.) after the 2-0
© Liam Mcburney/PA Wire / DPA
Bayer Leverkusen’s winning streak was broken against Atalanta Bergamo – in the final of the Europa League, of all places.
The treble is gone, the historic series is broken in the final on the big European stage: Bayer Leverkusen has the final Lost the Europa League and suffered their first defeat in the 52nd competitive game of the season. The spoilsport for the German champions in the 0:3 (0:2) against Atalanta Bergamo in Dublin was the outstanding former Leipzig player Ademola Lookman, who scored three goals (12th, 26th and 75th) against an unusually nervous and erratic Bayer team. Minute). In the DFB Cup final on Saturday against 1. FC Kaiserslautern, Bayer is playing for the double.
In their third European final after winning the UEFA Cup in 1988 and losing the Champions League in 2002, Leverkusen suffered their second defeat. Bergamo, on the other hand, won their first international title in their first final and are the first Italian winners ever in the Europa League, which was introduced in 2011.
Bayer Leverkusen behind early
The Bayer fans who had travelled with them after the championship trophy party had given their players a great reception in perfect football weather. In Leverkusen, almost 10,000 people watched the game at a public viewing. But it didn’t look like another title night was in the cards right from the start. Even before the first goal was conceded, Bayer made an unusually high number of simple mistakes in the build-up to the game and seemed surprised by the opponent’s offensive approach.
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Lookman capitalized on a mistake from Exequiel Palacios following a corner. Coach Xabi Alonso accepted the goal without much emotion – after all, his team had come from behind so many times this season. But only tentative offensive attempts followed. Bergamo goalkeeper Juan Musso easily caught a harmless shot from Josip Stanisic (18th). Just a few minutes later, Lookman did much better on the other side: The 26-year-old gave Leverkusen’s cup goalkeeper Matej Kovar no chance with his well-placed shot.
Atalanta Bergamo as a tough opponent
And now? Even a 0-2 deficit in recent months did not mean that Leverkusen would lose. In the Europa League alone, Bayer had conceded two goals three times and then come back. But Atalanta, which narrowly lost the Italian Cup final last week, proved to be the tough opponent that was expected. Before the match, even star coach Pep Guardiola had warned about the Italian club.
Leverkusen didn’t have any promising chances before half-time and had to be wide awake to avoid conceding their third goal. Alonso sent 24-year-old Amine Adli into the game as the only leader, but like the rest of the team, he had major problems finding his usual form. The coach reacted during the break, but initially only brought in striker Victor Boniface for Stanisic.
Xabi Alonso brings Andrich and Hlozek
Bayer still didn’t play Sturm und Drang at the start of the second half. Atalanta continued to find it easy to take the ball away from Leverkusen and quickly get towards the goal. One of the German champions’ problems was that national player Florian Wirtz, who got fit in time, was unable to provide any impetus.
After a good hour, at least a little dynamic changed, the final now took place more often and longer around Atalanta’s penalty area. But Leverkusen ran out of time, Alonso brought on midfield boss Robert Andrich and striker Adam Hlozek (68th/69th). With the lead behind them, Bergamo increasingly retreated, but remained dangerous: Lookman scored his third goal with a powerful left-footed shot. The final was decided.