Atalanta vs Bayer Leverkusen LIVE: Ademola Lookman hat-trick wins Europa League final for Italian side

Atalanta coach, Gian Piero Gasperini, spoke in the build up to the final and gave his thoughts on what he is expecting from the game saying: “We believe that we have prepared everything we had to prepare so we are just eager to play. We are in the best possible condition in a psychological and physical sense.

“We are aware that we are facing a great team. We know that Leverkusen are unbeaten and we know that they have had an amazing season.

“The results they have achieved this season are not an accident. Certainly, small details can make the difference in a final. We have to respect them and try to adapt quickly to the opponents we are facing.”

As Xabi Alonso arrived into Dublin, he was of course asked whether it was good to be back. The Bayer Leverkusen manager came to Ireland for a summer when 14 years old to learn English, and it only fosters the sense of a figure coming full circle. There’s a personal history here, and there could well be a football history through a series of doubles. Alonso may ensure an unbeaten European campaign in Wednesday’s Europa League final, against Atalanta, to go with an unbeaten league campaign. There’s still Saturday’s DFB-Pokal final to come, and that is against second-tier side Kaiserslautern. The Basque is so close to an unprecedented unbeaten treble, and what would be one of the great football achievements.

It should be stressed he has already done something alchemic, arguably up there with Sir Alex Ferguson’s first Scottish title with Aberdeen and maybe Jose Mourinho’s Champions League with FC Porto. It is not just denying Bayern Munich the Bundesliga title for the first time since 2012, and that after the perpetual champions spent over €100m on players such as Harry Kane. It is doing it with a club that had only claimed one major trophy in their history, and been branded as perpetual losers. This wasn’t supposed to be possible in modern football. It’s not like this team has just played the percentages or strived to get there through some freak campaign, either. The invincible season speaks to the emphatic nature, the emotion of it all amplified by so many late comebacks and winners. It is vintage stuff.

This is not the first Europa League meeting between Atalanta and Bayer Leverkusen.

Back in the 2021/22 round of 16, Gian Piero Gasperini’s Italian side defeated a Werkself team coached by Gerardo Seoane. They won the first leg 3-2 at before clinching a tight contest 1-0 at the BayArena to reach the quarter-final stage.

Will Atalanta be on the winning side again tonight?

“I like the adrenaline when I am on the field; it is one of the best things about being a referee,” he explained when asked about his thoughts on taking charge of tonight’s game,

“If I take good decisions during the game, I am proving to myself that I can handle these big matches. I love football. For me, being a referee is the most beautiful job in the world and I recommend that youngsters come and embrace this opportunity.

“During my career, I have made a lot of connections, built good relationships with my colleagues and have enjoyed visiting many different countries through my work.

“The Europa League final will be a proud moment for me but also for the team alongside me and more broadly, Romanian football. I owe a lot of people at home a big ‘thank you’ for the success I have had in my career.

“Many people have helped me with good advice or support when I have had difficult times. The chairman of the referees committee in Romania, Kyros Vassaras, has helped to improve a lot of things in the domestic game for us, and there is one person who has been next to me since I started – István Szilágyi – and I thank him in particular because he has always supported me.”

He added: “I don’t change anything in the way I prepare for matches. I do the same thing whether it is a European final or a Romanian league match, and this helps to ensure I am fully focused. Once the game is finished, we can reflect and enjoy the occasion.”

The referee for tonight’s match is Romanian Istvan Kovacs and this is the third consecutive season he has been on duty at a Uefa club final.

He took charge of the inaugural Europa Conference League showpiece in Tirana in 2022 and was the fourth official at the Champions League decider between Manchester City and Inter Milan in Istanbul last June.

“This will be my second Uefa final as a referee, and it really is a dream come true,” said the 39-year-old. “To have refereed the Europa Conference League final in 2022 is of course helpful for this occasion.

“I still remember the feelings and the experience from that night, but I still need to work and prepare well for the match to make sure everything goes well on the night. It’s a big responsibility to be appointed for this match and I want to prove I am ready for this challenge.”

Fans have been flocking to Ireland ahead of this huge match with Dublin playing host to the Europa League final. Here are a few shots of supporters enjoying themselves ahead of kick off.

The bookmakers have the newly crowned German champions as huge favourites to win this evening and it is difficult to look past Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen. They’ve been the stars of European football this season and probably deserve to lift the Europa League but Atalanta cannot be discounted.

A relatively decent campaign in Serie A has been complimented nicely with a competent and controlled run through the Europa League knockout rounds. The Italian side looked a class above in their semi-final first leg against Marseille and with some confidence behind them could cause Leverkusen some trouble in this one-off encounter.

That said, Bayer Leverkusen are unbeaten for a reason this year and it looks likely that they will go on to make history with another victory tonight.

Atalanta 1-2 Bayer Leverkusen

Here’s a look at how we think the two teams will line-up this evening:

Atalanta XI: Musso; Toloi, Hien, Djimsiti; Zappacosta, Koopmeiners, Ederson, Ruggeri; De Ketelaere, Lookman; Scamacca.

Bayer Leverkusen XI: Hradecky; Kossounou, Tah, Tapsoba; Frimpong, Xhaka, Andrich, Grimaldo; Adil, Wirtz; Boniface.

Perhaps unsurprisingly given their incredible season so far Bayer Leverkusen are the overwhelming favourites to win the trophy tonight. Here are the latest odds for the Europa League final:

Atalanta win - 16/5

Draw - 27/10

Bayer Leverkusen win - 4/5

Atalanta midfielder Marten de Roon has confirmed that he will miss the final due to the knee injury he suffered in the Coppa Italia defeat to Juventus. Sead Kolasinac has been absent with a thigh issue of late.

Florian Wirtz has been managed carefully by Alonso over the last few weeks amidst a busy schedule but should be fit to start for Bayer Leverkusen.

The Europa League final is due to kick off at 8pm BST at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland.

Viewers in the United Kingdom can watch the match live on TNT Sports 1, with coverage on the channel from 7pm BST. A livestream will be available via discovery+, with both this fixture and the Champions League final being made available to non-subscribers.

You can purchase a TNT Sports subscription via discovery+ here, for only £30.99 per month.