Bayer 04 Leverkusen failed to win the European Football Association (UEFA) Europa League final of the 2023-2024 season after falling to Atalanta BC 0-3 on aggregate at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland, at 4:00 a.m. ET on Wednesday.
Leverkusen’s unbeaten run this season came to an end in this match. Leverkusen’s unbeaten run stood at 51 matches. Atalanta won their first European title in club history.
Leverkusen started in a 3-4-2-1 formation. Amine Adli started up front with Florian Wirz-Jérémy Frimpong in the attacking two. Alejandro Grimaldo-Granit Xhaka-Ezequiel Palacios-Josip Stanisic formed the midfield, while Piero Incapie-Yonatanta-Edmond Topsova formed the back four. Macej Kovarsi wore the goalkeeping gloves.
Atalanta countered with a 3-4-2-1 formation. Gianluca Scaramacca was up front, with Ademola Lucman-Charles Doucetelaar in the attacking second line. Matteo Ruggeri, Thon Kopmeijners, Ederson, Davide Chapacosta, and Sead Kolasinac, Isaac Hien, and Berat Zimcic formed the back four. Juan Musso was in goal.
Atalanta opened the scoring in the 12th minute. 바카라사이트 Chapacosta picked up the ball on the right flank in front of the box, moved forward and sent in a incisive cross that was met by a dynamic Lucman, who rattled the post with an exquisite left-footed strike.
Leverkusen looked to capitalize on their high ball possession in search of an equalizer.
Instead, Atalanta added another goal. In the 26th minute, Lucman received the ball in front of the box, approached the penalty arc and unleashed a powerful right-footed shot that found the bottom corner of the net.
The first half ended with a two-goal lead for Atalanta.
Leverkusen made an attacking change at the start of the second half, bringing Stanisic to the bench and introducing Victor Boniface. In the 23rd minute, Leverkusen made another change, bringing on Robert Andrić and Adam Hlozek for Grimaldo and Palacios.
Atalanta sealed the victory. Once again, it was Lukman who scored the winner. After picking up the ball on a counterattack in the 30th minute, Skramaka drove forward and approached the Leverkusen box before crossing to Lucman, who was running down the left flank. Lucman scored his hat trick with a powerful left-footed shot from inside the box, making the score 0-3.
The game ended with a three-goal victory for Atalanta.
After the match, UEFA Europa League published an interview with Leverkusen head coach Xabi Alonso on its official website.
Alonso said: “Atalanta played better. We have to accept that they deserved to win. After Atalanta’s goal, we had problems and we couldn’t find a solution. 파워볼실시간 It was really difficult to create good chances. Today was not our day,” he sighed.
Florian Wirz, the ‘ace’ who started the match, did not perform up to expectations. “He was fine,” Alonso said. In the last month he has been playing with caution and maybe he was a little short of minutes, but he was fine. There are no excuses.”
Alonso added: “When we got the momentum, Atalanta were very strong to take it back. We prepared a lot, but after their goal, and even before that, they overwhelmed us. This is soccer. These things happen. We have to analyze what happened. We have to analyze what happened, because at the weekend, we have another important game (DFB-Pokal final).”
“Of course it hurts. But we have to use this pain in a positive way.”
What we have achieved is very special and we should be proud of it. We weren’t at our best. Everyone is, including me. We will learn from today. How we respond to defeat and how we deal with this pain will help us a lot,” he said.
“Atalanta were the better team today. It’s a great result for coach Gian Piero Gasperini and I wish him all the best for the future,” said Alonso.
“Atalanta were not easy to overcome, even though we caused them a lot of difficulties. We didn’t hold the ball in favorable positions. 온라인카지노사이트 We didn’t capitalize. We didn’t capitalize, and we didn’t get lucky.”
Alonso added: “Atalanta were very brave. They weren’t afraid of one-on-one situations. That’s something they’ve built over the seasons. They are a special team. Usually we play from a position of advantage, but we couldn’t do that in this game.”