Atalanta 3-0 Bayer Leverkusen: Europa League final – as it happened

23 May 2024

The Guardian

Atalanta 30 Bayer Leverkusen Europa League final as it happened

Minute-by-minute report: Ademola Lookman scored a spectacular hat-trick to secure Atalanta’s first trophy since 1963 and end Bayer Leverkusen’s invincible dream. Scott Murray was watching

Jonathan Wilson was in Dublin tonight and his report has landed. Here it is! Congratulations to Atalanta, commiserations to Bayer Leverkusen, and thanks to you for reading this MBM. Nighty night.

Atalanta win Europa League as Lookman hat-trick ends Leverkusen’s unbeaten run

Alonso is also asked why he decided to stay at Leverkusen next season despite offers from elsewhere. “There are many things … 18 months ago they came and I was no-one … they believe … they took the chance … we have a very good connection … many players I went to look for them and they came to the project, so it was too early … I’m happy to be here … for sure I will learn from today … it’s an experience that means we will keep improving.”

A very gracious Xabi Alonso talks to TNT. “We were not planning to have a bad day today … but for sure we had one … it was not meant to be … we could not cope with many difficult situations … the unbeaten run has come to an end but congratulations to Atalanta, they deserved it, so nothing more to say … it was not about tactics … individually they were better and as a team as well … we learn from that … it is hard … we have another final on Saturday … Atalanta were very brave … they defended really well so we could not create chances … they are a pretty special team … today was not our day … normally we get in better positions but today we couldn’t … it hurts because we wanted to lift the trophy but you can’t have everything … it doesn’t change the effort … this is football.”

Time for Atalanta to get down to some serious partying. Each player takes it in turns to hoist the trophy in front of their adoring fans. Hopefully everyone will manage to raise some other celebratory receptacles later, there’s probably somewhere in town. Meanwhile poor old Bayer Leverkusen trudge off sadly, their Invincible dream over having fallen at the penultimate hurdle, a terrible hangover already kicking in. On that subject, sort of, here’s Peter Oh: “Gasperini > Die Aspirine.” He’s here all week, ladies and gentlemen. Try the consumer healthcare products.

The trophy presentation. Leverkusen receive their runners-up medals. A few of their players do that thing of taking it immediately off; hey, they’re disappointed, each to their own. Then Xabi Alonso comes across to congratulate Gian Piero Gasperini with a big smile. A moment of genuine warmth between the managers. Lovely to see … and even nicer to see Leverkusen then form a guard of honour for Atalanta, who go up to get their reward. Nobody’s taking those medals off! Berat Djimsiti takes receipt of the trophy but doesn’t lift it before making sure Marten de Roon, who was on the bench tonight but injured, gets a hand on it. Up it goes, Gian Piero Gasperini disappears into the middle of a celebratory scrum, and Atalanta have been a team together until the very end!

Xabi Alonso looks utterly bereft. Grim. He tries his best to keep up the spirits of his players and fans, but you can tell he’s not feeling it. Ah well, there’s still the chance of a domestic double … and they’ll always be Invincibles in the Bundesliga, so it’s not all bad. Anyway, it would seem the die was cast. “It’s the year of the underdog,'” explains Simon McMahon. “If you don’t include Manchester City and Real Madrid, which I don’t. Both these sides were what you would call ‘unfancied’ at the start of the season, and have now won two of the biggest titles in European football. Dortmund are in the Champions League final, Ipswich in the Premiership. You probably know where I’m going with this, right? Li’l Scotland are going to win the Euros! It’s coming home!”

The hat-trick hero Ademola Lookman, of Lookman Final fame, speaks to TNT. “One of the best nights of my life, yeah … an amazing performance from the team … yeah, we did it, we did it, we did it! … not got many words to say but yeah, fantastic … third time lucky … I’m just happy we won … I’m so pleased … a lot of celebrating … we made history tonight!” He’s not so much happy as blissed out, safe in the knowledge that he’s made an indelible mark on the histories of both Atalanta and Bayer Leverkusen. The man who scored the first hat-trick in a one-leg Uefa Cup / Europa League final. The man who won Atalanta’s first European trophy. The man who slayed the Invincibles.

Gian Piero Gasperini and his men get dancing. Zooming all across the pitch, this way and that, tangles of limbs as everyone tries to hug everyone else at once. They’re the throughly deserved winners of the 2024 Europa League, having demolished the previously invincible Bayer Leverkusen. Demolished in style. Demolished from the get-go. Demolished by Ademola Lookman, who scored the first hat-trick in a Europa League final, and one of the best – almost certainly the best – in the entire history of European finals. What’s more, it wasn’t even a one-man show, because Éderson, Teun Koopmeiners, Gianluca Scamacca and Davide Zappacosta all delivered their best stuff from the top drawer, and the rest of the team weren’t too shabby either. Also a nod to young defender Giorgio Scalvini, who came on and strode around the place like he owned it. Breaking news: Italy aren’t half bad at producing defenders. A collective performance for the ages. What a way to win your first European trophy, and only your second major pot of all time!

Bayer Leverkusen lose their first match since May 2023, but never mind that … Atalanta win their first trophy since June 1963!

90 min +3: Lookman dribbles down the left and refuses to ship possession. It’s his ball, he can do what he wants with it.

90 min +2: Hlozek’s drive whistles past the right-hand post. Musso was scrambling but it went wide anyway.

90 min +1: Rafael Tolói comes on for Matteo Ruggeri.

90 min: A cross bobbles into the Atalanta box from the left. Hlozek is tugged back gently by Scalvini. VAR checks for a penalty, but (a) there wasn’t much in it, (b) there may have been an offside in the build-up, and (c) it doesn’t really matter because there are only four additional minutes to play, and even Leverkusen can’t wriggle out of this one.

88 min: Lookman executes a no-look back-flicked pass up the left touchline. It comes to nothing but that’s not really the point. He’s having the time of his life. He’s certainly playing the game of his life.

87 min: Atalanta pass it regally around the back. Their fans crack into their big bag of olés. What a performance this has been.

85 min: Tah nearly carelessly allows Toure to race clear down the right. Kovar comes out to hack clear. On the touchline, Xabi Alonso’s temper betrays him for the first time as he bawls his players out.

84 min: Davide Zappacosta and Gianluca Scamacca make way for Hans Hateboer and El Bilal Toure. “It’s not as huge of a stage, but Ademola Lookman’s hat-trick ending a legendary run of games without defeat puts me in mind of Helmut Rahn’s brace against the Magical Magyars in the 1954 World Cup final,” writes Kári Tulinius. “He’s written himself into the football history books.”

83 min: … but this is Bayer Leverkusen, of course. A goal, and you never know. Tella crosses low from the right. Schick attempts a cute flick at the near post but his effort is deflected out for a corner. Nothing comes of it.

81 min: Florian Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong make way for Patrik Schick and Nathan Tella. Xabi Alonso clearly thinking about the German cup final at the weekend. He’s certainly wearing the look of a man who knows the jig is up.

79 min: Pašalić has the chance to release Lookman in for what would surely have been his fourth goal. But he doesn’t spot the pass and the move dribbles out. Shame.

77 min: Musso gathers a long punt on the edge of his box. His feet were initially outside, but by the time he touched the ball, he was back in. Leverkusen claim something, anything, out of desperation more than anything else.

Lookman has already scored two stunning goals, but this is the best of the lot! Scamacca makes off on the counter. He eventually passes to Lookman on his left. Lookman shifts the ball to his left to take Tapsoba out of the game, then lashes an unstoppable rising drive across Kovar and into the top right! That nearly took the entire frame of the goal out of the ground!

73 min: Ederson nicks the ball off Frimpong and feels a gentle brush of finger on face. He takes the opportunity to go down. Andrich is then booked for getting up in the referee’s grille to complain about the cheap free kick.

71 min: It’s all a bit scrappy, which given the scoreline, suits Atalanta just fine.

70 min: Koopmeiners goes into the book for a big yank on Wirtz’s shoulder.

69 min: A double change for Leverkusen, as Alejandro Grimaldo and Exequiel Palacios make way for Robert Andrich and Adam Hložek. Andrich’s very first act is to take his eye off the ball when offered an opportunity to stride down the middle towards the Atalanta box.

68 min: Nothing comes of the free kick.

67 min: Lookman drops a shoulder as he prepares to skin Tapsoba down the left. The Leverkusen defender is forced to take one for the team, grabbing a chunk of his shirt and ensuring the winger doesn’t tear clear. Into the book he goes.

66 min: Zappacosta drives slowly down the right and wins a throw deep in Leverkusen territory. That’s some good play, because there was nobody to find in the middle, and it’s eaten up a chunk of clock.

64 min: Wirtz floats a diagonal ball towards Grimaldo on the left-hand corner of the six-yard box. Musso comes off his line decisively to claim ahead of Grimaldo, who was winding his neck back for a header. Great goalkeeping, and brave too, because he’s taken a knock.

62 min: Ederson, in an attempt to channel Xabi Alonso v Luton and Newcastle, tries to beat Kovar from the halfway line. Nope.

60 min: Zappacosta is booked for a clumsy tackle on Adli, who was making good down the left. No malice, just a total lack of timing, other than that of the comedic variety. Nothing comes of the resulting free kick.

59 min: Wirtz’s loose pass into the Atalanta box somehow finds its way through to Adli on the left. Adli flashes a cross into the mixer. Musso parries but the ball falls to Frimpong, who leans back and slashes a wild volley miles off target.

57 min: Charles De Ketelaere is replaced by Mario Pašalić. When play restarts, Frimpong makes good ground down the right but his cross, intended for Boniface, is deflected towards the keeper by Ederson, who has been absolutely everywhere tonight. Musso gathers.

56 min: Hincapie is clocked around the jaw by Scamacca, but it looked accidental. The referee certainly sees it that way, and thankfully the Leverkusen defender is back up soon enough.

54 min: Leverkusen probe this way and that. Hincapie and Grimaldo combine down the left to earn a corner. They take it quickly and waste it. But the German champs have shown a clear improvement since the break.

52 min: A free kick for Bayer out on the left. Everyone loads the Atalanta box. But Grimaldo can’t clear the front man, which is nothing short of shocking, and Atalanta clear with a yawn. Musso still hasn’t had a serious save to make.

51 min: Frimpong drives down the right and threatens to tear clear, only for Ederson to step across him and flick out for a corner that comes to nothing. It’s a proper end-to-end game with both teams going for it. You know what they say about the next goal? Well, that.

50 min: Nothing comes of the corner.

49 min: Lookman slips Koopmeiners clear down the left. Koopmeiners crosses low. De Ketelaere waits to slam home, but Hincapie slides in to hook out for a corner, just in time.

47 min: Boniface’s first act is to drop deep and attempt to find Frimpong with a floated pass down the middle. It sails through to Musso.

Leverkusen get the second half underway. Victor Boniface has come on for Josip Stanišić. Atalanta meanwhile have been forced to switch out Sead Kolašinac, who came out for the second half but limped off before it even started. He’s been suffering from a thigh problem. Giorgio Scalvini comes on in his place.

Half-time entertainment. Or all is not lost for Leverkusen.

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Atalanta have been excellent, and this scoreline doesn’t flatter them at all. Xabi Alonso will need to make some changes. Leverkusen’s invincible coat is hanging on das Shügglipeg.

45 min +1: Xhaka has a rake at goal from 25 yards. It’s a decent enough effort, albeit one that’s always bouncing wide of the bottom-right corner, and covered by Musso.

45 min: There will be two additional first-half minutes.

43 min: De Ketelaere cuts in from the right and fizzes a low shot towards the bottom right. Kovar is behind it all the way. Up the other end, some work for Kovar’s opposite number Musso to do, as he gathers Adli’s left wing cross with Frimpong lurking.

41 min: Frimpong has the opportunity to tear clear down the left but is shepherded out of harm’s way by a combination of Zappacosta and Ruggeri. To be fair to Frimpong, there was nobody in the middle for him to find. “If Atalanta go 3-0 up by half-time, this will suit Xabi Alonso down to the ground,” argues Istanbul nostalgist Gary Byrne.

39 min: Ederson slides in to steal the ball off the toe of Wirtz, and sends De Ketelaere away down the right. De Ketelaere finds Scamacca on the edge of the D, but the striker’s crowded out. Yet again, Atalanta look far sharper than their opponents.

38 min: Frimpong threatens to enter the Atalanta box on the left. Kolašinac comes across to stop him, at the expense of a corner that’s easily cleared. Leverkusen are beginning to carry a threat for the first time this evening.

37 min: Xhaka floats a clever pass down the inside-left channel. Wirtz, entering the box, thinks about bringing it down, but lets it bounce in front of him. That allows Musso to claim.

35 min: Grimaldo has an opportunity to wedge a loose bouncing ball over Musso, who is wandering around in no-man’s land. But he duffs the chip and the ball lands softly in Musso’s arms. Then Scamacca slides in aggressively on Adli. He’s booked, and so is Wirtz, for asking for the aforementioned booking.

34 min: Xabi Alonso sends Victor Boniface out to warm up.