German champions Bayer Leverkusen lost their first match of the season in the final in Dublin – and by a wide margin. Atalanta Bergamo won the first European title in the club’s history after a convincing 3-0 victory.
The treble is gone, the historic series has been broken in the final on the big European stage: Bayer Leverkusen lost the Europa League final and suffered their first defeat in the 52nd competitive match of the season. The spoilsport for the German champions in the 0:3 (0:2) defeat against Atalanta Bergamo in Dublin was the outstanding former Leipzig player Ademola Lookman, who scored three goals against an unusually nervous and erratic Bayer team (12th, 26th and 75th minute). In the DFB Cup final on Saturday against 1. FC Kaiserslautern, Bayer will play 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.
Surprised by the opponent
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 also 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.
Lookman benefited from a mistake by Exequiel Palacios following a corner. Coach Xabi Alonso accepted the goal without much emotion – after all, his team had already turned a deficit around so many times this season. However, only tentative attempts at attack followed. Atalanta goalkeeper Juan Musso easily intercepted a harmless shot from Josip Stanisic (18th minute). Just a few minutes later, Lookman did much better on the other side: the 26-year-old left Leverkusen’s Cup goalkeeper Matej Kovar no chance with his well-placed shot.
And now? Even a temporary 0:2 did not mean that Leverkusen would lose in recent months. 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.
Adli only tip
Leverkusen had no more promising chances before half-time and had to be wide awake to avoid conceding a third goal. Alonso had sent 24-year-old Amine Adli into the game as the only striker, but like the rest of the team he had great problems finding his usual form. The coach reacted during the break, but initially only brought on striker Victor Boniface for Stanisic.
Bayer did not play with a dash of attack at the start of the second half. It was still easy for Atalanta to take the ball away from Leverkusen and quickly get towards the goal themselves. One of the problems for the German champions was that national player Florian Wirtz, who had become fit in time, was unable to provide any impetus.
After just over an hour, the dynamics changed a little, and the final was now played out more often and for longer around Atalanta’s penalty area. But Leverkusen was running out of time, and Alonso brought on midfield leader Robert Andrich and striker Adam Hlozek (68th/69th). With the lead behind them, Atalanta increasingly retreated, but remained dangerous: Lookman scored his third goal with a powerful left-foot shot. The final was decided.