The sky is black and blue over Dublin: we are 2023/24 Europa League champions!!!
Lookman's hat-trick helped us to the UEL title
A historic night, a magical night, one for the books: we HAVE WON the 2023/24 UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE! The sky is black and blue over Dublin as we beat Bayer Leverkusen thanks to a fantastic hat-trick from Lookman and a great team performance. Our dream has come true, we have lifted our first European trophy: the Europa League trophy is coming back to Bergamo with us.
From the outset, the game was a hard-fought and thrilling affair full of intensity. The Nerazzurri started brightly and, after Scamacca's header ricocheted off a defender, Gasperini's men took the lead in the 12th minute when Zappacosta's cross from the right found Lookman, who sidefooted into the net to open the scoring. Lookman then grabbed his second of the night on 26 minutes when the Nigerian striker latched onto a ball in the final third, nutmegged a defender and curled a low shot past Kovar into the far corner. Musso did well to keep out Grimaldo's 35th-minute sort of lob, before the Nerazzurri threatened again in the 43rd minute, this time through De Ketelaere, who cut inside and saw his left-footed shot saved by Kovar. The final attempt of the half came in the first minute of added time, but Xhaka's effort was off target.
Bayer Leverkusen stepped up their efforts in the second half and, in the 59th minute, Musso parried a cross and Frimpong pounced on the rebound but shot over. However, the Nerazzurri were in full control of the match, defended as a unit and fought on every ball. And the third goal came in the 76th minute and it was Lookman again, this time assisted by Scamacca, who finished off the scoring with a sharp dribble and left-footed shot into the far corner to send the thousands of Atalanta fans in Dublin into a frenzy. That was the final goal, the Europa League is ours!
ATALANTA 3-0 BAYER LEVERKUSEN
Scorers: Lookman 12, 26, 76 (A).
Atalanta: Musso, Djimsiti, Hien, Kolašinac (Scalvini 46), Zappacosta (Hateboer 83), Éderson, Koopmeiners, Ruggeri (Toloi 91), De Ketelaere (Pašalić 57), Scamacca (El Bilal 83), Lookman. Unused bench: Carnesecchi, Rossi, Holm, Bakker, Adopo, Miranchuk. Coach: Gian Piero Gasperini.
Bayer Leverkusen: Kovar, Stanisic (Boniface 46), Tah, Tapsoba, Frimpong (Tella 81), Xhaka, Palacios (Andrich 69), Hincapie, Wirtz (Shick 81), Grimaldo (Hlozek 69), Adli. Unused bench: Hradecky, Lomb, Kossounou, Hofmann, Borja Iglesias, Arthur, Schick, Puerta. Coach: Xabi Alonso.
Referee: István Kovács (ROU);
Assistant referees: Vasile Florin Marinescu (ROU) and Mihai Ovidiu Artene (ROU);
Fourth official: Ivan Kružliak (SVK);
V.A.R.: Pol van Boekel (NED);
A.V.A.R.: Catalin Popa (ROU);
V.A.R. support: Rob Dieperink (NED).
Notes: Djimsiti (A), Scamacca (A), Wirtz (BL), Zappacosta (A), Tapsoba (BL), Koopmeiners (A) and Andrich (BL) booked.