DUBLIN.- He Atalantawith a hat trick from his Nigerian striker Ademola Lookman, won his first Europa League and ended Bayer Leverkusen’s streak of 51 games without losing this season by winning 3-0 this Wednesday in Dublin.
Lookman got the game back on track with two goals in the first half (minutes 12 and 26), before signing the final sentence in the 75th minute and securing an unappealable victory despite the fact that Leverkusen arrived as theoretical favorites.
“It was not our day and we have to accept it. We have to congratulate Atalanta, who deserved to win,” admitted the Germans’ coach, the Spanish Xabi Alonso.
The trophy of this Europa League will accompany in Atalanta’s showcases the other title that the entity won in its history, the Italian Cup in the now distant 1963, when many of the current ‘tifosi’ were not even born.
The path followed to the title gives even more luster to the success achieved, since in previous rounds they also got rid of historical teams such as Marseille, Liverpool and Sporting Lisbon.
Atalanta’s successful strategy:
“You can’t be content with defending in a game like this. We knew that they (Bayer Leverkusen) are very strong in attack, but perhaps not so strong when you force them to defend. Everything has gone well from the beginning,” celebrated the emblematic coach of Atalanta, Gian Piero Gasperini.
This Wednesday’s joy also erases the disappointment of the final lost a week ago by Atalanta itself, which was defeated by Juventus in the decisive match of the Italian Cup.
For Italian football, it is its first title in the Europa League since it was renamed that way in the 2009-2010 season. The last team from the country to lift the trophy had been Parma in 1999, when it was still called the UEFA Cup.
Source: AFP
