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Atalanta received the Europa League, Europe’s second most essential competitors, beating Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 due to a hat-trick by Nigerian striker Ademola Lookman. Atalanta couldn’t be thought-about favourites, however they performed an excellent sport, shortly placing Bayer Leverkusen in a troublesome place with a singular depth. Lookman scored three wonderful objectives, two within the first half and one within the second. The sport was performed on the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland.
It is the primary worldwide cup that Atalanta has received in its historical past, the second after the Italian Cup in 1963, Atalanta received this group forward of Sporting Lisbon, Sturm Graz and Raków, and was eradicated within the spherical of 16 by Sporting. Lisbon itself, within the quarter-finals Liverpool (with a historical past of profitable 3-0 away) and at last Marseille within the semi-finals. Atalanta turned the primary Italian staff to win the Europa League because the competitors modified its title in 2009 (it was beforehand referred to as the UEFA Cup).
The victory within the last in opposition to Bayer Leverkusen is much more exceptional when you think about that the Germans reached the ultimate of the Europa League after the perfect season of their historical past. Bayer received the German championship this yr (the primary in its historical past) with out dropping a single sport and in complete, earlier than the match in opposition to Atalanta, they’d performed 51 video games, received 42, drawn 9 and had been undefeated.
Since the arrival of Gian Piero Gasperini as coach in 2016, Atalanta has utterly modified its measurement, changing into a staff that may compete with the perfect in Italy and Europe, whereas earlier than the season the one aim was to attempt to keep in Serie A. The sport in opposition to Bayer might be thought-about a form of manifesto of contemporary soccer , probably the most aggressive and spectacular proposed by Gasperini’s Atalanta in recent times.
– Also learn: The Endless Revolution by Gian Piero Gasperini