Atalanta 3
Bayer Leverkusen 0
XABI ALONSO AND Bayer Leverkusen ran out of the miracles in Dublin: their hopes of an invincible treble shredded by Ademola Lookman and the fabulously insurgent Atalanta.
This was the final that was supposed to crown one of the greatest single club seasons in the history of European football but instead we got a kind of regicide, executed with one of the greatest individual performances ever seen in a European final.
Lookman tonight became the first man to score a hat-trick in a Uefa Cup or Europa League final since Jupp Heynckes did it for Borussia Mönchengladbach in 1975, and each goal was better than the last: the first was a smart poach, the second a sharp jink-and-curl and the third an explosive rocket to shatter the uniquely ardent belief of Leverkusen.
Their unbeaten run ends at 51 games, and while they will likely rebound by winning the German Cup against second-tier Kaiserslautern this weekend, tonight means this season’s page in the record books will show a scuff.
It was impossible not to be seduced by the sheer glory of the Atalanta story, though: an unfashionable club in Bergamo, dwarfed by the many powerhouses in the north of Italy, whose last major trophy before tonight was lifted when John F. Kennedy was US president. It was also a glorious validation for their 66-year-old coach Gian Piero Gasperini, who to now had lost every previous cup final of his career.
This was an audacious way to end that drought. The Europa League is never easily won, but Atalanta took on its two favourites – Liverpool and now Leverkusen – and beat them both 3-0.
Alonso talked at length yesterday about his side’s propulsive belief, evident all season across their quixotic series of last-gasp comebacks, but here they were oddly tentative, rushing and misplacing passes, admittedly under a duress induced by Atalanta.
Pep Guardiola once described playing Atalanta as like being a ‘trip to the dentist’, so discomfiting is their suffocating, man-to-man press. Alonso yesterday warned that they are capable of dropping off and defending too, but tonight Atalanta kept their nerve: they pressed their foot to the floor to chase and harass any Leverkusen player in possession.
Given neither club nor coach are steeped in silverware, it was an admirably brave thing to do with everything on the line.
But it paid off instantly and then again and again. They disrupted Leverkusen from the off, attacking their opponents and the moments with a zeal and vigour which Leverkusen could not match out the gate. This was how they took the lead, as Lookman pounced as Exequiel Palacios dozed to smash Davide Zappacosta’s cross into the net.
The game was only 13 minutes old but the Atalanta bench raced onto the pitch in delerium. Xabi Alonso started without main striker Victor Boniface, preferring the smaller, pacier Amine Adli. Alonso’s plan was to flood the centre of the pitch to pick a path around the Atalanta press and then quickly release the ball in behind for Adli and Jeremie Frimpong. To that end, Josip Stanisic drifted into midfield from right wing-back when Leverkusen had the ball, but the plan didn’t work.
They missed the physical presence of Boniface, and it told in the game’s second goal. Leverkusen lofted a ball forward to Adli, whose attempt at a cushioned header was instead a defence-splitting pass to Lookman, who dropped his shoulder to ghost by Granit Xhaka and slam-curl a stunning goal into the bottom corner.
Alonso turned to Boniface at half-time but Plan B didn’t work either. The striker clanked and jangled with rust as Leverkusen continued to toil, the sum of their creativity coming down to a Frimpong volley that was skewed over the crossbar. Xhaka summed up his side’s diffident malaise: outstanding all season, tonight he was swamped, left addled and clumsy.
With the luxury of their lead, Atalanta could indulge their inner catenaccio. And so when Mario Pasalic turned over a Leverkusen attack, Atalanta broke clear and worked the way to Lookman, who skated by a defender and then saved his best for last: rocketing a shot into the top corner to finally condemn Leverkusen and let loose all manner of bliss for Atalanta.
That was the blow from which Leverkusen could not recover, and they wound down the game having finally discovered the moment in which they had no more to give. At full-time Alonso sunk his hands into his pockets and slunk away, as Atalanta smothered themselves with this unfamiliar visitor named glory.
The Leverkusen playwrs stood dejected in front of their fans for long and painful minutes after full-time, who responded with defiance and appreciation. Gasperini meanwhile danced in front of the Atalanta supporters, with Lookman hoisted high in acclaim and some of his team-mates standing with their hands on their heads in a kind of bewildered disbelief.
Atalanta: Juan Musso; Berat Djimsiti (captain), Isak Hien, Sead Kolasinac (Giorgio Scalvini, HT); Davide Zappacosta; Ederson, Teun Koopmeiners; Matteo Ruggeri; Charles de Ketelaere (Mario Pasalic, 56′), Gianluca Scamacca, Ademola Lookman
Bayer Leverkusen: Matej Kovar; Piero Hincapie, Jonathan Tah (captain), Edmond Tapsoba; Jeremie Frimpong; Josip Stanisic (Victor Boniface, HT); Granit Xhaka, Exequiel Palacios (Robert Andrich, 68′); Alejandro Grimaldo (Adam Hlozek, 68′); Jeremie Frimpong (Nathan Tella, 81′), Florian Wirtz (Patrik Schick, 81′); Amine Adli
Referee: István Kovács (Romania)
