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Ademola Lookman single-handedly ended Atalanta’s 61-year look forward to silverware and Bayer Leverkusen’s historic 51-match unbeaten run in a single fell swoop, scoring a hat-trick Wednesday in Dublin to win the Italian facet the Europa League.
Leverkusen’s streak owed a lot to the dramatic last-minute heroics of their gamers, and lots of anticipated them to drag off one more multi-goal comeback after they conceded twice to Lookman within the first half. However the Nigerian eradicated any lingering ideas together with his third, his left-footed rocket nestling within the far nook within the seventy fifth minute to substantiate a well-known 3-0 win.
The one different title Atalanta have gained is the 1963 Italian Cup.
The end result additionally means Italy could have six groups within the Champions League subsequent season if Atalanta stay in fifth place in Serie A. They’d then relinquish the berth they earned from their top-five end to sixth-place Roma.
The final time an Italian crew gained the Europa League was in 1999 when Parma grew to become champions of the previously named UEFA Cup.
Bundesliga champions Leverkusen can nonetheless finish the yr with yet one more trophy. They face second-tier Kaiserslautern within the German Cup last on Saturday.
Wednesday’s victory is a crowning achievement for Gian Piero Gasperini, who’s reworked Atalanta from a Serie A bottom-feeder into one in all Italy’s best groups since being appointed in 2016. He is performed it on a fraction of the finances of most of his trophy-chasing friends, with Atalanta routinely promoting off gamers for a revenue. Simply final summer time, the Bergamo-based outfit earned greater than €150 million from participant transfers, together with the sale of Rasmus Hojlund to Manchester United.
Gasperini’s Atalanta had misplaced each one in all their earlier three finals – all within the Coppa Italia and twice to serial winners Juventus – however made good on the membership’s first journey to a European last.
It wasn’t significantly shut. Leverkusen had entered the showpiece occasion as the favourite, having accomplished the Bundesliga’s first-ever unbeaten season on the weekend, however Xabi Alonso’s facet could not deal with Atalanta’s high-energy urgent from the beginning.
Lookman snuck previous Exequiel Palacios to show in Atalanta’s first and profited from a giveaway in midfield earlier than burying his second. He then grew to become the primary participant to attain a hat-trick within the last of a significant European competitors since Jupp Heynckes managed the feat within the 1975 UEFA Cup for Borussia Monchengladbach.
With Portuguese champions Sporting CP, Liverpool, and Marseille standing of their method within the knockout phases, Atalanta’s place within the Europa League last was removed from assured. After eking out a slender combination win over Sporting, Gasperini’s facet gained 3-0 at Anfield and beat Marseille by the identical rating at house earlier than flying to Dublin, the place they’d condemn Leverkusen to the identical destiny.
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