Atalanta beat Leverkusen 3–0 in the Europa League final. Leverkusen’s unbeaten streak lasted 51 matches.
All pipes break sometimes. Late on Wednesday evening in Dublin, Ireland, it had to be realized by the German Baeyr Leverkusen, who wrote an incredible cinderella story this season.
Before Wednesday Lukas Hradecky the club he represented had played 51 matches without defeat, but in the final match of the Europa League that streak was broken in the treatment of the Italian Atalanta. Atalanta won the Europa League championship by beating Leverkusen 3–0.
A 26-year-old English-Nigerian became the manager of Leverkusen Ademola Lookman. After 11 minutes, Lookman accelerated from the situation after the corner kick to score.
14 minutes later, Lookman was at it again. He was artfully misleading Granit Xhaka and shot the ball responsibly by Matěj Kovár to guard the goal.
Before the break, Atalanta had a chance to increase the lead even more, but Kovar stretched out to make an important save.
Leverkusen had shown several times this season that it will not be counted out until the final whistle. Now Atalanta was simply better and Leverkusen’s spirit was gone in the second half.
Just before the end of the actual playing time, Lookman crowned his unforgettable evening by firing a hard shot into the upper right corner. Lookman became the first player ever to score a hat-trick in a Europa League final.
This year, Leverkusen, which won the first Bundesliga championship in its history, had set the goal for the end of the season to play the entire season without losses. It didn’t happen now, but the club has a chance to win its second championship trophy of the season on Saturday.
It will play in the German Cup final against FC Kaiserslautern.