Nothing lasts forever—not even the Zhou dynasty, the Roman Empire, or Last of the Summer Wine—and neither did Bayer Leverkusen’s winning streak. Their quest for a perfect season ended at the penultimate hurdle after 51 games when Atalanta secured a shockingly comprehensive victory and their first title in 61 years thanks to an Ademola Lookman hat-trick, the first in a one-leg European final since Pierino Prati in 1969.
Despite much anticipation surrounding the rise of Xabi Alonso as one of Europe’s most talented young managers, an accomplished veteran emerged victorious. Gian Piero Gasperini, who has spent his entire career working extremely hard behind the scenes, is 66 years old when he receives his first piece of cutlery. It is a real moment of achievement. They defeated Liverpool 3-0 at Anfield and Marseille 3-0 in the semi-final first leg; no one can argue that these victories were undeserved.
“Being successful with Atalanta is one of those rare football fairytales that come true,” Gasperini remarked. “It allows for meritocracy because ideas still have room and don’t always need to be based on hard, cold cash.”
He made a point of talking about the terrible weeks in 2020 when the Covid panic decimated Bergamo. He declared, “We have brought a smile to the faces of the Bergamasco people, but we won’t be able to take away all that pain.”
That talk about Alonso was not wrong: winning the Bundesliga with any side other than Bayern Munich is a remarkable feat, and all the more so to do it the way he has, but here his side were rattled out of their stride by Atalanta’s organisation and the dynamism of Éderson and Teun Koopmeiners in particular.
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“We were prepared for one-on-one duels all over the pitch but we weren’t able to impose ourselves,” Alonso said. “It’s painful but it’s deserved as well.” For once, the late surge didn’t deliver; at the last, Leverkusen ran out of comebacks.
There was a sense the Europa League was made for this: two teams who have had excellent seasons, both playing bright, vibrant football, given a stage on which to enjoy a grand European night. For the fans of both clubs, there was a palpable excitement just to be here; for them the experience of finals has not become a cloyingly familiar routine as it can seem to have become for fans of the giants.
Well, Leverkusen didn’t assist themselves as Atalanta played. They had an unusually nervous start, letting possession go too frequently, which let Atalanta establish a rhythm.
Lookman’s first came about as a result of an odd moment of inattention on the part of Exequiel Palacios, who hesitated as Davide Zappacosta crossed, seemingly oblivious to anyone following him. Lookman was able to steal ahead of him, and his last name acted as a warning to Palacios about what he ought to have been doing.
According to Gasperini, “nobody imagined he could make this much progress.” “In England, he wasn’t very prolific. I gave him a slightly more attacking role, and he’s had a fantastic season. He accomplished something tonight that will go down in football history.
Lookman spoke of the “calmness” of Bergamo and the “intensity” of Gasperini who, he said, had “simplified” the game for him to allow him to “look at my game in a different light and take it to a new level”.
The first goal stemmed from a blend of Leverkusen laxity and Lookman excellence and the second was similar as he gathered a loose ball, cut infield, nutmegged Granit Xhaka (who experienced his first defeat since Arsenal lost at Nottingham Forest a little over a year ago) and whipped a perfect finish inside the far post.
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Given the run they are on, Leverkusen are not the sort of side to panic at being two behind. It was, after all, the fourth time it had happened in this Europa League campaign – and it was one fewer goal to pull back than Alonso had faced the first time he won a European competition. His equivalent of Didi Hamann, the substitute thrown on at half-time in Istanbul in 2005 to transform the game, was Victor Boniface.
But it made little difference. Leverkusen had plenty of the ball in the second half, but struggled to build real pressure. And then with 15 minutes remaining came the coup de grace. Gianluca Scamacca, in his ponderous way, led a break and shovelled a pass to Lookman, at which point the game abruptly sped up as he cut on to his left foot and smashed a triumphant finish into the top corner.
