Topic: UEFA Europa League 2023/24 Season - page 66. (Read 58961 times)

We were silent because we always favored Leverkusen but lost last night so we're ashamed of our friends who chose Atalanta.

It's unexplainable how a team that's so good at not losing can lose a final, but this is football that sometimes surprises people, so Serie A representatives really often finish on top and Atalanta did.

Don't ask about this, we lost.
It's really disappointing to see the Leverkusen game last night.

That the underdogs won is a bit strange.

The nightmare was named Ademola Lookman and with his hat trick dashed Leverkusen's hopes of winning the European league and breaking their unbeaten record. Of course, no one expected the result to be like this and I am sure that many bettors lost money in this match. From the first minute Atalanta clearly really wanted to win the match and they quickly took the lead in the first half with a goal scored by Ademola Lookman.

It didn't stop there, not long after Ademola Lookman scored the second goal and I thought, maybe later Leverkusen could turn things around as usual? But unfortunately it never came. What happened was that Atalanta killed the match with the third goal from Ademola Lookman who was brilliant with his agile movements and at that moment Leverkusen had no reason to comeback. Well, congratulations to Atalanta who won the European league for the first time and maybe they have become opponents to be reckoned with since this victory.

I'm sure many people lost their bets yesterday in the final match. Because I'm the same way. I even hope Leverkusen can turn things around in the second half. But another surprise occurred, namely that Atalanta looked even stronger in the second half. And Atalanta even added a 1 goal lead.

At the end of the first half Leverkusen seemed to be starting to be more aggressive in attacking and trying to dismantle Atalanta's defense. And I hope that continues in the second half. But to be honest, I'm a little disappointed. Because since the first half Leverkusen had gaps in their back line. And I hope that in the second half Leverkusen can repair and cover these gaps. But I don't see any improvement at all other than a few additional players to play more attacking. But the defense remained the same and as a result they conceded again and allowed Atalanta to win with great pride. I acknowledge Atalanta's greatness in that match. And they deserved to win.

I watched the Atalanta vs Bayer Leverkusen UEFA Europa League final game last night from the very first minute till the last and I don't think I'll agree to the opinion that  Bayer Leverkusen didn't play well. Few days ago, I made a post on this thread in which I said that the biggest mistake Bayer Leverkusen will do in that game is to underestimate the strength of their Italian opponents in that final and looking at how Bayer Leverkusen approached that game from the start to finish, I think they were too relaxed and had that strong confidence and conviction that they're definitely going to beat Atalanta in the final.
The Italian club approached the game with more determination for a win and that's why they succeeded in winning that particular game against Leverkusen last night. Ademola Lookman was insanely electrifying last night with his performance and that was why he became the first footballer to score a hattrick im the final of the competition.

I'm not going to comment too much on the game here as it's already been talked about enough hehe

But I do want to say that soccer is a very interesting sport, which is why it's the most popular. How can we explain Atalanta's victory yesterday?
There's simply no logical explanation, the Italian team, only in 5th place in the national championship, against the German team undefeated in the season, and the result of 3x0

Who were the lucky ones who bet on Atalanta yesterday?
I lost my bet on Leverkusen hahaha, because I was convinced that I didn't have much to think about for yesterday's game

Atalanta simply eliminated the current Portuguese champions (Sporting), Liverpool, Olympique and beat Leverkusen in the final  

This is very disappointing and surprising to many people, especially me, saw some of the football news today and was very disappointed with the final result of the Europa Final Match, Atalanta, who was not the favorite, was able to prove to everyone that he was truly capable of completing his job well to beat Leverkusen.

Everyone has different thoughts from everyone, including yourself, regarding Xabi Alonso's tactical preferences in all the matches Leverkusen has played so far. Gasperini is a tough and experienced coach so it is not surprising if they are able to do that in this Final match. , the players are very good, even though they previously lost to Juventus in the Coppa Italia Final, in the Europa Final they were able to recover to create big history in the Europa League. Of course Atalanta and Gasperini deserve a thumbs up from football fans.

Atalanta is a team filled with surprises. Bayer Leverkusen, who have been dominant this season and with their unbeaten record, has made people forget the fact that Atalanta once silenced Liverpool 0-3 at Liverpool's home ground. I think the victory they got over Liverpool was not just luck, even, this is proof that Atalanta is a team with good performance and has the capability to become European League champions.

Bayer Leverkusen did not completely play badly, it's just that every effort they make is still not enough to be a goal because Atalanta's defense played quite solidly and Juan Musso is truly a tough goalkeeper who was able to stop several good opportunities that Leverkusen had. However, the one who really shined that night was Ademola Lookman because with the hat trick, he made Atalanta can get a steady victory and became Europa League champions for the first time in their history.

there are several differences and some of Xabi tactics that made me very emotional.
first point is that the Leverkusen players did not have the opportunity to attack because the Atalanta players continued to apply pressure by chasing every ball towards the Leverkusen players and blocking the opportunity to pass it to other players.
I mean, if you look back at the Leverkusen players, their playing style is always easily guessed by the Atalanta players and you will definitely also see how Atalanta playing style is like continuing to press the Leverkusen players until the mentality of the Leverkusen players becomes a little less confident, always less ready to control the ball and too often lost the ball.
and on the one hand, Leverkusen mistake is that they always have difficulty getting opportunities to score, but when they have the opportunity to score, everything is in vain, like the opportunity that Alex Grimaldo got, it was very clear that he could score, but he couldn't control the ball to score.

Leverkusen next mistake was when a teammate got the ball, the other players just waited for the ball and didn't try to find free space to launch an attack and this was often easy for Atalanta to guess and ended up Leverkusen continuing to get a deadly attack that could score 3.
In conclusion, in yesterday's match, Atalanta was much more prepared and confident to face this match and Leverkusen had a big mistake in players who were not able to look for opportunities at every opportunity.

The Europa League remained unpredictable until the very end, although after Atalanta's victory over Liverpool it was worth thinking about the fact that this team could become the main contender for victory. But everyone was talking about Alonso’s success at Bayer, about their record, and no one was talking about the fact that Atalanta would be able to repeat in the final the same thing they did with Liverpool. Gasperini finally achieved meaningful success with Atalanta. And doesn't this mean for Roma that they can now get a place in the Champions League, since Atalanta gets a place in the Champions League as the winner of the EL?

The match went very surprising for most people without doubt. It was like most of the world were waiting for Leverkusen to win.    I guess nobody expected them to play this poorly - including me. 

I didn't like Xabi Alonso's tactical preferences in this match. It didn't fit a coach like him who had a 51-match unbeaten series. Gasperini looked well-prepared against their tough opponent though. His players performed fearlessly. 

By the way while it was 2-0 I still couldn't be sure of Atalanta. You know the Roma comeback. But Lookman's completing a hat-trick by a great goal sealed the deal! Completely deserved win and a marvelous effort by Lookman. 

Defeats was never in the books for Bayer Leverkussen this season, they've passed through challenges and overcoming them with ease efforts but last night was different, not all other days because this one was a serious fight for Europa League title and they got humiliated by the Seria A side. The special winning Atalanta lay eyes on and never stop believing to become Europa League winners this season. Bayer Leverkusen fans couldn't believe before their very own eyes they lost 3 nil at Dublin.

Sorry for your loss mate. I believe that a lot of people would lose their money in this game because they are confident with Leverkusen's game this season, they do not think that their unbeaten record is going to end against Atalanta who is in the 5th position in the Seria A league. Atalanta looked very prepared in this game because, in the first half, Leverkusen conceded two goals, it was even funny to me that Lookman destroyed his fellow Afcon players' dream to win their second trophy of the season with a hat trick. This victim alone meant a lot to Atalanta, they ended Leverkusen's dream of winning a treble, and their unbeaten record was ended after 51 games of the season.

Congratulations to Atalanta for winning their first Europa League trophy, they deserved it, as they eliminated Liverpool, Sporting and Marseille in this competition. We know how strong these three clubs are this season and Atalanta was able to defeat them. However, I wasn't surprised with this defeat over Leverkusen because their opponents are very tough, despite that they lost Coppa Italian to Juventus doesn't mean that they will still lose their chances of winning their trophy of the season. I even stated in the Italian league that we shouldn't be surprised if Leverkusen's unbeaten record comes to an end against Atalanta.

What happened in the final match was certainly very surprising and seemed to disappoint many bettors, because I'm sure many bet on Bayer Leverkusen with a large goal margin but on the contrary, it was quite unbelievable that their impressive record finally stopped in the match to win the title that is quite prestigious, but what is quite strange is how they were not only unable to reply but were unable to guard their goal well so they had to lose by a landslide score, and when Atalanta beat Liverpool at Anfield with the same score it should have been a warning that they are not just any team even though throughout the season their performance was not as impressive as Bayer, but in fact they are much more ready.

Leverkusen oh Leverkusen, I lost my bet today because I was too optimistic about their win that I forgot that Atalanta had prepared an unexpected surprise. Without being able to score a goal back, it made me a little confused because Leverkusen's beautiful game was actually defeated by the Italian representatives.  what I fear will happen, Atalanta will be the only club that has managed to break Leverkusen unbeaten record. Atalanta pride certainly makes other clubs feel flattered, especially Bundesliga teams who are unable to do this, represented by Atalanta.

The match actually have some historic significance as I have come to learn. First, it marked the first major trophy of Gian Piero Gasperini in his coaching career. Second, it marked the first defeat of Xabi Alonso and Bayern Leverkusen in all competitions this season. If these are not historic enough, then I don't seem to know what will qualify as historic.

From the beginning of the match until the end, the German side were outplayed and reduced to an ordinary team, far from the champions that humiliated giants like Bayern Munic and As Roma. In the usual football fans banters, Bayern Leverkusen players were taunted to have had too much beer in the celebration of their Bundesliga trophy celebration, the reason they couldn't play well as expected. Well, that is the fun of the game.... there will always be a winner.

Gasperini and Atalanta made big surprise with their approach to play very attacking since the match kick off. They were not fearful at any level even the opponent is unbeaten before the final match in all competitions.

The brilliant individual performance of Lookman helped Atalanta to have a big win and this player contributed important part for Atalanta success but as Xabi Alonso said after the final, Atalanta had a better tactics for the final and in face to face fighting, Atalanta players mainly won against Leverkusen players.

Xabi Alonso deserves to be an ex-assistant coach of Pep Guardiola by overthinking. What the hell thinking he had by reserve two best striker, Boniface and Schick on bench and best midfielder Andrich on bench too?

Only Xabi Alonso knew why he did these strange decisions for this final match that contributed to poor performance of Leverkusen in the first half. Atalanta played excellent in the first half and with two goal difference, they played defensive in next 30 minutes before Lookman finalized the final with his third goal from a quick counter attack.

Bayer Leverkusen played very well, it's just that they didn't play as aggressively as Atalanta and also didn't have the luck like Atalanta. Honestly, I was quite disappointed to see the results of this match, because Bayer Leverkusen have been fighting since the start of the competition until they finally got to the final, but they didn't manage to get the trophy, they should have been able to get the treble this season but it looks like they will only get the Bundesliga title & DFB Pokal.

I knew a whole lot of criticism will definitely emerge from the fact that Bayer Leverkusen lost this finals but then leat think about it from a different points of view, I'm not trying to justify loosing the finals as worth doing but then factors surrounding the situation isn't such that can be ignored in judging the results of which we definitely know Play a big role influencing the performance of the team and the result they happen to get eventually.

Leverkusen were under too many pressure at a time and lost their composure and not their mentality and not starting Boniface who's good bat been creative at the front line was an error which was made in the first half and coming in at the second half to correct the two goals deficit in a final game was actually a dunting task that isn't easy to achieve of which they weren't able to achieve by the end of the second half, basically I think that's the main reason Leverkusen lost the finals, if they had ended the bid for the record all along and all they were after was winning the trophy then maybe it would have been easy for them to be able to have an opportunity to winning the trophy as the pressure would have been just around winning the trophy.

Throughout the league games they were in a very good form and had brilliant performance so I think it will be much better if they are been judged by their total performance throughout the season and not just the single finals game, they are definitely going to be able to contend fairly against some of the champions league teams but may not be able to get to the finals, or even keep an unbeaten record but they are most definitely going to making sure they are able to get as much experience as possible and probably in subsequent champions league they could dare to win the trophy but for the new season I'm particular about them been able to get through to a good point in the champions league.

To me,what actually caused Bayern Leverkusen's defeat is over excitement and too much praises from people about their unbeaten run.They feel because they have won the league,they can go ahead to win every other trophy they play, forgetting that Atalanta were in the form of their lifes before the game.But one thing I love about this Leverkusen team is the believe they always have,I believe they still had in mind that despite Atalanta getting those two goals against them in the first half,they would come back to draw the game in the second half,but that did not happen yesterday,as I think it wasn't their day.

It was a very great game, and believe me when i tell you that Leverkusen did not play horrible ; Atalanta completely dominated them in every areas of the football pitch, and to cap it all up; Ademola Lookman scored great goals to crown the excellent tactical and performance excellences from nthe europa league champions.

Big Lessons for Alonso as well, as next season will be different for Leverkusen