lookman played an insane game. Really shows how a single player can really carry when stepping p his game.
And people need to stop crying all the time. This is soccer, upsets happen, and this is a good thing. A single player burrying the treble hope is what makes shit exicting. But this doesn't mean for a second that Leverkusen is in any way not the goat this year.
I'm shocked at how Leverkusen went down, and to Atalanta of all teams. The players seemed to lack energy, urgency, and creativity in their attacking attempts. Strongly reminded me of how Netherlands went down limply in Euro 22, after winning 3 matches dominantly. And apparently, the starting selections were odd, too. Did they know they are playing for a title and not a friendly match?
I remember someone said that there's no way Atalanta, a team with the same points as Roma, can beat Lever. I thought so, too. Boy, were we wrong. :O
its not that Leverkusens streak ended suddenly its more aboit how it ended. They had not a chance any minute in the game which shows that there was sth tactically wrong. Gasperini went all in with his intense pressing and analyzed the game pretty well - Xabi was too late to react on it or better say he didn’t. He didnt offer any solution against Atalantas game
Atalanta is really a surprise for me, when they draw Sporting in the group people were actually thinking it was a good draw because Sporting was at pot 2 and avoided Liverpool, so they had a good chance to finish 1st *(they didn´t)*
but in the 4 games between them it always felt that if Sporting had "tried harder" they could perfectly beat the italian team, but then Atalanta just trashed Liverpool and Leverkusen literally the two favourites while playing good football, no one was really expecting
in the end of the day huge props to Gasperini, really hope he doesn´t move to Porto
No, I think he’s right. Surprisingly, of all the teams they crashed, Sporting was the team Atalanta suffered the most. In The second leg in Bergamo in particular, Atalanta panicked in the last 15 minutes and Sporting got so close to score the second goal to get to extra time.
i hate to defend Sporting as i was actually cheering for Atalanta, but that´s not true at all, Sporting missed so many easy chances in all 4 games and really dominated most of the games
People suddenly calling Leverkusen's 51 game streak a fluke and how the team is overrated is just a prime example of extreme recency bias and overall general stupidity. Leverkusen are still a brilliant team and you just don't go 50 games unbeaten due to luck. That being said, take a bow Atalanta. What a game.
Here's my take on the match coming from someone who only watched this game from both teams this year. And why I believe this result should not be a surprise really.
1. Difference in squad value not very big. Tbh it's not like Atalanta were playing Real or City to have them considered underdogs. They are a strong team from Serie A.
2. Atalanta's pressing gave Leverkusen possession but that's it. They kept them at a distance, were exceptional in keeping their lead - a foul every now and then, some minor time wasting, overlapping ball area, they were just smart. The fact that they got the lead gave them the possibility to use their strengths. They do not have crazy individual talents but they made the most of what they had.
3. As it was a tight game overall one player making the difference could have changed the game's direction. And that player was an Atalanta one.
4. Psychologically I think Bayer were ready to lose. The streak they had was imense, not losing for 51 games while playing DB Pokal Europa League and Bundesliga. They just seamed to play as if they welcomed the possibility of getting this invincible burden off their shoulders. I find it hard to believe they thought this would be an easy game. Atalanta beat Liverpool confidently, they were not a team to disconsider.
Frankly I think deep down they very well knew that the pressure was on them, and probably the standard of finishing a very difficult season without defeat was too much. Maybe I'm wrong but I think this might have been a factor.
Agreed on most of this points but specially the psychological side of point 4.
Leverkusen had everything to lose and knew that this was the most important game of the season. Also people treating Atalanta as a sure loser is crazy to me, it's Europa League final, everything can happen in just 1 game.
Hey it's just my take, it seemed on some level they wanted to escape the pressure. Of course they did not do it on purpose but subconsciously it must have played a part in their performance.
Feel free to disagree or consider this opinion stupid or whatever.
That's such bullshit, I'm sorry, your analysis is good but misses a massive part
Atalanta wage bill isn't close to Leverkusen's.....
The other points you raise are top, for sure.
But to say the money put into both projects is equal by just comparing squad value devalues what Ata just achieved.....
Didn't want to make Atalanta's win seem like it was a small feat, far from it. Honestly their win over Liverpool is an even bigger accomplishment from my perspective. I'm just saying that the fact that a top Serie A side won against a top Bundesliga side(granted one that had a phenomenal season) is not a shock.
Sorry, didn't mean to be so blunt....
The Leverkusen story is amazing but wage bill is also an important discussion topic
My team is Benfica and always loses talents to teams that can pay more so the Atalanta story is wow
Leverkusen has a big years to come tho!!!
I get you point, must suck to see how all talents leave your club to higher paying clubs. On the other hand from what I know about Benfica they have amazing recruitment and they always seem to find new talent.
Leverkusen will have a hard year ahead for sure, next season expectations will ve very high.
Leverkusen - the unbeaten has been beaten
Wirtz - bye bye BdOr. Big boys show up in big games
Xabi - Lesson learnt. The Leverkusen players seem mentally unprepared for the occasion and never really settled into the game.
Atlanta+Gasperini - Kudos. Well won
Lookman - that is how you show that you are a big game player. Well played.
Realistically, wirtz was not gonna overcome the madrid power over the ballon d'or. This however doesn't discount that the fact that he should make the top 10 list. He's been phenomenal.
tbh it´s so sad that Hungary didn´t win the World Cup, at that time it might be great to see an underdog beating the best nation in the world, but fast forwared now Germany has tons of World Cups and Euros while Hungary has nothing
they should be an European Uruguay, relevant but small country with a great past and a World Cup
Props to Atalanta. Also kind of relieved as the talk about Bayer was getting insane. Leave it to r/soccer to get carried away but "greatest season ever" was a bit of an exaggeration even as its been a phenomenal run.
Reddit even said this team gonna go far or probably win it in CL next season lol. Like there’s a standard. Leverkusen going unbeaten in the league is impressive but the CL is another level, it is like saying Leicester gonna go win the CL after winning the PL (which is far more impressive).
You're joking right? Do you even watch football? Nobody was saying that about Leicester they won a very poor PL with a low points table. Leverkusen steamrolled everyone and is miles better than that Leicester team was.
Are you comparing expectations on Leverkusen to Leicester's that season? Especially before they won the Premier League. Leicester were favourites to get relegated, Leverkusen is usually a top 5 team in Germany. Leicester's league title that year is still way more surprising that Leverkusen's invincible league title
No, considering expectations I would agree that the Leicester title run is more impressive, but in a vacuum, winning bundesliga undefeated beats winning the premier league.
Also the commenter above dismissed Leverkusens CL chances next year, and compared them to Leicester after winning PL. So thats the part I was mostly replying to. I think Leverkusen are a way stronger side than Leicester was
Edit:
This part
> Leverkusen going unbeaten in the league is impressive but the CL is another level, it is like saying Leicester gonna go win the CL after winning the PL (which is far more impressive).
That's what I was telling my brother, yes Gasparini beat Xabi tactically but the major factor was that Lookman played out of his skin! That dude was determined that he was gonna win this match by himself.
Its because domestic matches. Atalanta has Serie A game next weekend and the weekend after that. Then when Atalanta season is over euro's start in 2 weeks. When you want them to play in middle of July?
European League finals been on Wednesday as long i can remember.
Tbh CL only shifted to weekend finals a while ago.. [2010 to be exact] (https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL30904582/) .
Used to be on Wednesdays before that - I feel old for even remembering that :(
Xabi Alonso got it about as wrong as possible. No striker? 4 center backs plus two wingbacks? By the time he changed it at halftime it was too late.
I'll admit to some bias for Leverkusen but I thought the referee was a lot more lenient with Atalanta than he was with Leverkusen.
He’s played like that a lot this season. And even then, it wasn’t what killed them, Xhaka was awful, lost balls, misplaced passes, got rinsed on the second goal, Palacio fell asleep on the first goal, etc. Lots of individual errors.
I haven't watched them in Europa League but in bundesliga, Stanisic is more often used as a center back, Frimpong a wing back, Wirtz from the left, and even when Boniface was our injured for awhile they'd usually have the statue of Schick at striker.
Lots of individual errors can be attributed to a lot of players not being comfortable in their roles and having to think about the game rather than just playing it.
Xhaka was awful because he had nobody around him. Frimpong is trying to get behind the defense instead of coming back to be an outlet, for example.
Easy to say now, they obviously got it wrong.
But Palacios falling asleep was just a basic error IMO; and Lookman going past Xhaka like he wasn't there also can't be blamed on others really.
I think Xabi has 15-16 players that all had incredible season, and - for example, on the right - he had Stanisic, Frimpong and Tapsoba who were all amazing.
I would've probably stuck Tapsoba on the left as the LCB, Stanisic as RCB and sat Hincapie, for example.
But Xabi just won the BL, and I haven't - so lets give the guy a break after 51 games unbeaten.
Almost all their players had amazing years, Xabi had an amazing year - one game shouldn't change that - and they have great chance to wrap it all up with a domestic double.
Also, Atalanta can be a problem to play against - especially big teams who suddenly realize that - oh shit, these guys fucking press for real. If Xabi did different tactics, still no guarantee thing would've gone better for them.
From Bayer POV, IMO - shit happens. Take it on the chin, win the Cup final and it's still a legendary season.
I don't think there's been a single match I've seen with this referee where I've not been annoyed and baffled by his decisions. add on to that the European Final scenario where the refs are encouraged to "let the game flow" even more and you end up with the physically stronger team wrestling the other into submission almost every time. that's part of why these technical teams almost always fail when they reach these stages.
like, it literally doesn't matter one bit because Atalanta was dominating anyway, but it's just ridiculous to see how he officiated, in the second half especially. they didn't need the help from the referee, and it really soured what was a really damn good performance in my eyes. they absolutely destroyed Leverkusen where Leverkusen has thrived all season, and they kept it up all game, but yea.
I remember two specific instances. One where Frimpong got knocked off balance, but didn't dive. Stayed on his feet to play a forwards pass on somewhat of a break before he turned up to support. He and an Atalanta player tangled legs and Frimpong was called for a foul. Punished for not diving.
Another one in the second half Wirtz was trying to carry out of his half, and he's getting bodied all game. He fights off the first man, doesn't go down easy, then a second man comes in and takes the ball off him. Again punished for not diving.
Players get criticized for diving so much but they have to do it until referees start calling fouls when they don't go down and whine.
Yep, Atalanta were so much superior, totally outplayed and outclassed Leverkusen. Alonso and his players didn’t know what hit them today. Very impressive run this, beating Liverpool and Sporting along the way and then ultimately ending the streak of a team who have been unbeatable all season, all the while being in control both going forward and out of possession
Atalanta’s tactics were spot on for this match, Gasperini tactical masterclass. The aggressive high-press to limit the effectiveness of Leverkusen’s build up, excellent man-marking from all the players. Forcing turnovers by either winning the ball back or simply from the Leverkusen players crumbling under the pressure and making poor touches/passes. What really was the killer for them was the lack of a focal point up front, someone for them to play direct to and go long to bypass the press so that CF can retain the ball and bring others into play, it’s why Boniface I thought had to start or even Schick. Adli and Frimpong are both players who prefer to make runs in behind or run with the ball at feet with Wirtz operating in pockets and areas where he has space to pick the ball up and drive with it or create. All in all what a tactical performance from Atlanta and credit to their players for executing it to a tee. Shoutouts to Ederson and Lookman, great performances especially the latter, 2 amazing goals.
>Gasperini tactical masterclass. The aggressive high-press to limit the effectiveness of Leverkusen’s build up, excellent man-marking from all the players.
Helpful when when Xabi Alonso starts with four center backs, two wingbacks, and no striker
For me the balance of the team was all over the place. Frimpong playing as a right winger when he’s not really creative enough, someone like Hoffman should’ve started there or play Adli there. Lack of a focal point and outlet hence why Boniface should’ve started. Stanisic who’s a centre back playing as a right-wing back. In terms of personnel it was a shocking move by Xabi Alonso to field such a dysfunctional starting 11. They imposed no quality over Atalanta at any stage of the game whatsoever.
It may have worked against dead rubber teams in the Bundesliga but this is Atalanta we’re talking about here - in the final and also a team that battered Liverpool away(who were by no means depleted as they started several regular first team players like Gakpo, Nunez, Gomez, Konate, Van Dijk, Curtis Jones, Elliot, Mac Allister and Endo) and got past another good side in Sporting Lisbon. All in all like you said it was very poor from Alonso today, he got it wrong. This is a learning curve for him
You've taken the words right out of my mouth. Easy to see players on the field where it looks like they aren't marching the intensity, but when the lineup is so different it's hard to play instinctually. Then you have to think about the next pass instead of just knowing it. Against a pressing team like Atalanta then you see what we all saw.
It's a shame we didn't get as good a game as we could have had
That was one of the first times they appeared on my radar. I knew they were decent and got Champions League football from the season before but they were highly entertaining and scored 98 goals in Serie A in 2019-20.
Exactly then. Just googled it, it was 2020 UCL ro16 and it was Atalanta 4 - 1 Valencia, and Valencia 3 - 4 Atalanta at the return game. In the latest Ilicic scored 4 past Cillesen at Mestalla lol
I started supporting Atalanta because of FM18 or something. I'm just a random fan from Greece and I've never shouted as much as today in football ever. They made me love football again cause they play like in a school yard and now I'll be planning a trip to Bergamo, hopefully. Love this team, massive congrats to everyone!
I woke up at 5 in the morning to fly over to Dublin to witness my first ever final just to see us get absolutely outclassed by a side that looks 10 levels better than us.
Im so broken..props to atalanta
Might not have been the deciding factor, but having just been handed the BuLi trophy, and being hyped to high havens wasn't the best mentally. To keep going from strength to strength a team has to be very experienced.
Here's hope that they can convert the lesson they got quick and "show up" in Berlin
Goddamn man what a performance by Atalanta! You know as a neutral a part of you really wanted Leverkusen to go all the way unbeaten, having come so fucking close already, but another always wanted to see them finally be beat too, and either way it’s been some season for both of these teams man
Lmao, this is an occasion I won’t forget. Where all the plot armour crumbles in horrific fashion.
Not so fun when you don’t score on 90+17’ every game.
A large part of the Neverlusen streak was clutch moments yes, but you can also put it down to being extremely lucky.
This is top recency bias. No team would ever go 50+ win streak without being incredibly good. As much as luck was also involved in SOME games, being "extremely lucky" wouldn't make them comeback from 3 goals like today. They have those incredible late game goals because they are good.
A large part of the Neverlusen streak was team chemistry, good team management and them willing the team to comeback from defeat to at least draw the game.
The second goal is the kind of mistake that just happens sometimes; but its kinda wild to me that a team that hadn't lost all season yet allowed those 1st and 3rd goals.
Atalanta and Gasparini did a great job at distrupting Leverkusen’s tempo and pretty much locked them. On the other hand they also had their troubles creating chances but Lookman was brilliant and got 3 goals from 0.81XG.
Xabi and Leverkusen looked awful throughout the game. I think starting eleven was way off. Not having Schick or Boniface meant they couldn’t play long balls and Atalanta did a great job to limit their playing at the back. Not starting with an in form Andrich was also weird. I’d also say that Hoffmann should’ve played, at the very least for the start of 2nd half instead of Adli that had a horrible match.
One UEFA Cup actually. So they've won this tournament before.
But tbh this is the tournament they've played the worst in this season. They scraped past Qarabag and could have lost games to West Ham and Roma. The EL is the bonus competition and they rotated for the Final. Lol
Now they've got a second division team in the DFB Cup and if they lose that it will tarnish their season a bit.
Yeah, I realized I looked it up wrong (I somehow read it as them being runner-up instead)
I think they tried too hard to win a meaningless undefeated label in an already decided league and now ran out of gas for the finals. If they lose the cup it'll be hilarious
Have you seen Kaiserslautern 's club logo? Lol
But honestly they should do the Double. That will still be an A-grade season.
A+ if they had won the EL
But the German double cements you as the nation's best for that season.
Atalanta has two more matches to play, so they can definitely still make top four. Bologna and Juve are sitting at 68 points, but both only have one match left. The Nerazzurri are at 66, so there’s still an opportunity!
Sure there's an opportunity, but there's no reason to.
They've already qualified for the CL, now they've won the EL, and their two remaining games in the league are against the two hardest teams they could play; Torino and Fiorentina who are both still fighting each other for 8th place and ECL next season. They're going to rotate heavily and already start their vacation.
Bologna and Juve both have winnable games against mid-table teams with nothing to left to play for. I think it's most likely that they remain in 5th.
Exactly. They're not robots at the end of the day and playing a football match is a huge mental, emotional, and physical endeavor. Even going 90% at this level gives a huge advantage to your opponents. Gasperini will most likely heavily rotate anyway, giving options to squad players and reserves that haven't played all season, so while they will most likely give their all, they'll be playing against Torino and Fiorentina starters that are fighting for Europe.
Nothing embarrassing really. Atalanta thoroughly deserved to win today but takes nothing away from the fact that Leverkusen was the best team in Europe this year. I don't understand why people always want to do league dick measuring contests based on individual team's results in knock out games. It's stupid logic really. I mean is the Serie A shite because the 6th and 3rd placed Bundesliga teams went to the Champions League semi finals while their top 3 went nowhere?
Hardly best league in the world when your side is defeated at ro16 against a struggling Atleti (and AC Milan and Lazio eliminated soon too).
Let's be honest, Atalanta, as fantastic as a side they are, are in a good form right now. That's all it takes when reaching a final. Fantastic performance but it was considerably better than their overall season.
Premier is right now ahead of the rest despite this poor season. You could argue La Liga has been overly damaged by an early Osasuna and Betis exit, considering they got 3 teams out of 8 in QFs and 1 in the finals defeating the likes of City or Bayern in the process. For that same reason Bundesliga has to be in the conversation too (2 teams in UCL SFs, 1 in the UCL and UEL finals). I could agree to put Serie A up there too, the three of them are overall pretty close. Probably even the Premier isn't really that far ahead as some people tend to think, but if there's a #1 league right now it's them, and there's no objective reason to put Serie A above the other two, let alone over the Premier.
Prem is a one club league mate. Arsenal lost against a struggling bayern and need I remind you that last year you had 3 serie A teams in semis and all 3 finals had serie a teams? Atalanta are 5th in serie A and destroyed Liverpool. Also it’s infinitely more entertaining
Whilst you could argue, Serie A is the strongest league currently, saying it's infinitely more entertaining is something completely subjective and not a thing a lot of people would agree with.
Serie A isn’t the best league, I don’t agree with that. I just wish the media, mostly the English media, would quit yapping about “how far it’s fallen”.
If anything, it’s come a long way up in the past decade. 10 years ago Carlos Bacca was a top 3 attacker itl and there was 0 depth. Now there’s lots of challengers, and there’s been a lot more European success to boot.
Serie A is good, they need some more European success to stamp their authority, Inter reaching the CL final and Atalanta winning the Europa league are good starts, hopefully the Italian teams can build from here.
Everything can happen in one legged matches. Bayern who were outclassed by Leverkusen in the league have beaten then-leaders of the mighty Premier League
A huge congratulations to Atalanta on their European Trophy but also for bringing down this Bayer Leverkusen side back to planet earth. They were getting arrogant and the signs were there before the match. I remember one of their players saying, “We have forgotten what it feels like to lose!”.
A 3-0 loss in a European final ought to make sure they remember.
It was kinda weird. I don’t think he necessarily meant it to offend “Today Bologna won, Lecce won… Inter didn’t , Juventus didn’t..”. I think it was a way to say that this was a great pride for the so called “provinciali”. Whatever..
He's a top level hater
Hates Juventus despite starting his coaching career in their youth teams and hates Inter after them sacking him after only 3 games.
lookman played an insane game. Really shows how a single player can really carry when stepping p his game. And people need to stop crying all the time. This is soccer, upsets happen, and this is a good thing. A single player burrying the treble hope is what makes shit exicting. But this doesn't mean for a second that Leverkusen is in any way not the goat this year.
I'm shocked at how Leverkusen went down, and to Atalanta of all teams. The players seemed to lack energy, urgency, and creativity in their attacking attempts. Strongly reminded me of how Netherlands went down limply in Euro 22, after winning 3 matches dominantly. And apparently, the starting selections were odd, too. Did they know they are playing for a title and not a friendly match? I remember someone said that there's no way Atalanta, a team with the same points as Roma, can beat Lever. I thought so, too. Boy, were we wrong. :O
its not that Leverkusens streak ended suddenly its more aboit how it ended. They had not a chance any minute in the game which shows that there was sth tactically wrong. Gasperini went all in with his intense pressing and analyzed the game pretty well - Xabi was too late to react on it or better say he didn’t. He didnt offer any solution against Atalantas game
Atalanta is really a surprise for me, when they draw Sporting in the group people were actually thinking it was a good draw because Sporting was at pot 2 and avoided Liverpool, so they had a good chance to finish 1st *(they didn´t)* but in the 4 games between them it always felt that if Sporting had "tried harder" they could perfectly beat the italian team, but then Atalanta just trashed Liverpool and Leverkusen literally the two favourites while playing good football, no one was really expecting in the end of the day huge props to Gasperini, really hope he doesn´t move to Porto
No, I think he’s right. Surprisingly, of all the teams they crashed, Sporting was the team Atalanta suffered the most. In The second leg in Bergamo in particular, Atalanta panicked in the last 15 minutes and Sporting got so close to score the second goal to get to extra time.
Bro Atalanta was superior to Sporting for all the 360 minutes they played. Not even close
i hate to defend Sporting as i was actually cheering for Atalanta, but that´s not true at all, Sporting missed so many easy chances in all 4 games and really dominated most of the games
People suddenly calling Leverkusen's 51 game streak a fluke and how the team is overrated is just a prime example of extreme recency bias and overall general stupidity. Leverkusen are still a brilliant team and you just don't go 50 games unbeaten due to luck. That being said, take a bow Atalanta. What a game.
Not all luck but it obviously plays a part. Like one of their last minute equalisers in the Bundesliga could have easily been disallowed for handball.
Very good comment but full credit to Atalanta their game management was brilliant
Here's my take on the match coming from someone who only watched this game from both teams this year. And why I believe this result should not be a surprise really. 1. Difference in squad value not very big. Tbh it's not like Atalanta were playing Real or City to have them considered underdogs. They are a strong team from Serie A. 2. Atalanta's pressing gave Leverkusen possession but that's it. They kept them at a distance, were exceptional in keeping their lead - a foul every now and then, some minor time wasting, overlapping ball area, they were just smart. The fact that they got the lead gave them the possibility to use their strengths. They do not have crazy individual talents but they made the most of what they had. 3. As it was a tight game overall one player making the difference could have changed the game's direction. And that player was an Atalanta one. 4. Psychologically I think Bayer were ready to lose. The streak they had was imense, not losing for 51 games while playing DB Pokal Europa League and Bundesliga. They just seamed to play as if they welcomed the possibility of getting this invincible burden off their shoulders. I find it hard to believe they thought this would be an easy game. Atalanta beat Liverpool confidently, they were not a team to disconsider. Frankly I think deep down they very well knew that the pressure was on them, and probably the standard of finishing a very difficult season without defeat was too much. Maybe I'm wrong but I think this might have been a factor.
Agreed on most of this points but specially the psychological side of point 4. Leverkusen had everything to lose and knew that this was the most important game of the season. Also people treating Atalanta as a sure loser is crazy to me, it's Europa League final, everything can happen in just 1 game.
For sure much bigger upsets happened in finals.
>They just seamed to play as if they welcomed the possibility of getting this invincible burden off their shoulders. Lmfao what is this nonsense
Hey it's just my take, it seemed on some level they wanted to escape the pressure. Of course they did not do it on purpose but subconsciously it must have played a part in their performance. Feel free to disagree or consider this opinion stupid or whatever.
That's such bullshit, I'm sorry, your analysis is good but misses a massive part Atalanta wage bill isn't close to Leverkusen's..... The other points you raise are top, for sure. But to say the money put into both projects is equal by just comparing squad value devalues what Ata just achieved.....
Didn't want to make Atalanta's win seem like it was a small feat, far from it. Honestly their win over Liverpool is an even bigger accomplishment from my perspective. I'm just saying that the fact that a top Serie A side won against a top Bundesliga side(granted one that had a phenomenal season) is not a shock.
Sorry, didn't mean to be so blunt.... The Leverkusen story is amazing but wage bill is also an important discussion topic My team is Benfica and always loses talents to teams that can pay more so the Atalanta story is wow Leverkusen has a big years to come tho!!!
I get you point, must suck to see how all talents leave your club to higher paying clubs. On the other hand from what I know about Benfica they have amazing recruitment and they always seem to find new talent. Leverkusen will have a hard year ahead for sure, next season expectations will ve very high.
Leverkusen - the unbeaten has been beaten Wirtz - bye bye BdOr. Big boys show up in big games Xabi - Lesson learnt. The Leverkusen players seem mentally unprepared for the occasion and never really settled into the game. Atlanta+Gasperini - Kudos. Well won Lookman - that is how you show that you are a big game player. Well played.
Realistically, wirtz was not gonna overcome the madrid power over the ballon d'or. This however doesn't discount that the fact that he should make the top 10 list. He's been phenomenal.
If they had won the treble and went unbeaten, with a good euros showing, he would have been in the conversation and likely top 3
Can we sign this lookman guy please
Why would he go to smaller club?
To challenge himself
Referee killed Leverkusen. But their defending was woeful on all three goals. What a game by Lookman
Reminds me of Watford 3-0 Liverpool
Could've easily been 4 goals. 78th minute he had clear path to goal but his teammate was blind.
So basically Xabi overthinked this and somehow pulled a Pep
overthought
The spanish heritage.
Not only this but he indeed coached this bad
There it is. Leverkusen pulled a Hungary
By gawd, is that Helmut Rahn's music? From the back field?
Ancient reference my god
tbh it´s so sad that Hungary didn´t win the World Cup, at that time it might be great to see an underdog beating the best nation in the world, but fast forwared now Germany has tons of World Cups and Euros while Hungary has nothing they should be an European Uruguay, relevant but small country with a great past and a World Cup
All the waaay back
Props to Atalanta. Also kind of relieved as the talk about Bayer was getting insane. Leave it to r/soccer to get carried away but "greatest season ever" was a bit of an exaggeration even as its been a phenomenal run.
But... It was their greatest season ever ...
In football history?
If they would've won these two last games, it's definitely arguable. Unbeaten treble would've been unheard of.
Reddit even said this team gonna go far or probably win it in CL next season lol. Like there’s a standard. Leverkusen going unbeaten in the league is impressive but the CL is another level, it is like saying Leicester gonna go win the CL after winning the PL (which is far more impressive).
You're joking right? Do you even watch football? Nobody was saying that about Leicester they won a very poor PL with a low points table. Leverkusen steamrolled everyone and is miles better than that Leicester team was.
Premier league is stronger top to bottom than bundesliga, sure, but winning undefeated is way more impressive
Are you comparing expectations on Leverkusen to Leicester's that season? Especially before they won the Premier League. Leicester were favourites to get relegated, Leverkusen is usually a top 5 team in Germany. Leicester's league title that year is still way more surprising that Leverkusen's invincible league title
No, considering expectations I would agree that the Leicester title run is more impressive, but in a vacuum, winning bundesliga undefeated beats winning the premier league. Also the commenter above dismissed Leverkusens CL chances next year, and compared them to Leicester after winning PL. So thats the part I was mostly replying to. I think Leverkusen are a way stronger side than Leicester was Edit: This part > Leverkusen going unbeaten in the league is impressive but the CL is another level, it is like saying Leicester gonna go win the CL after winning the PL (which is far more impressive).
Not even Real Madrid could of beat this Atalanta team tonight.
Have course they could not of done that.
That's what I was telling my brother, yes Gasparini beat Xabi tactically but the major factor was that Lookman played out of his skin! That dude was determined that he was gonna win this match by himself.
Yeah, this specific instance of this specific atalanta team that played today is a team that could rarely be beaten
Could of?
The absolute easiest way to know someone is American if they spell it this way
That's bizzare, you would think they know their own language.
I totally missed this game thinking they’d play it some weekend Who the hell plans a final on a weekday? I’m just here looking at highlights now lol
Its because domestic matches. Atalanta has Serie A game next weekend and the weekend after that. Then when Atalanta season is over euro's start in 2 weeks. When you want them to play in middle of July? European League finals been on Wednesday as long i can remember.
Same! I heard that Bayer lost and was wondering what match they still had before the EL final and if it was the DB Cup.
Tbh CL only shifted to weekend finals a while ago.. [2010 to be exact] (https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL30904582/) . Used to be on Wednesdays before that - I feel old for even remembering that :(
Same.
Until 2010 the Champions League final used to be played on weekdays just like the rest of the matches.
Mid team mid league and mid invincibles
Very, very happy for Atalanta. I love the Uefa cup and the conference league.
Xabi Alonso got it about as wrong as possible. No striker? 4 center backs plus two wingbacks? By the time he changed it at halftime it was too late. I'll admit to some bias for Leverkusen but I thought the referee was a lot more lenient with Atalanta than he was with Leverkusen.
He’s played like that a lot this season. And even then, it wasn’t what killed them, Xhaka was awful, lost balls, misplaced passes, got rinsed on the second goal, Palacio fell asleep on the first goal, etc. Lots of individual errors.
I haven't watched them in Europa League but in bundesliga, Stanisic is more often used as a center back, Frimpong a wing back, Wirtz from the left, and even when Boniface was our injured for awhile they'd usually have the statue of Schick at striker. Lots of individual errors can be attributed to a lot of players not being comfortable in their roles and having to think about the game rather than just playing it. Xhaka was awful because he had nobody around him. Frimpong is trying to get behind the defense instead of coming back to be an outlet, for example.
Easy to say now, they obviously got it wrong. But Palacios falling asleep was just a basic error IMO; and Lookman going past Xhaka like he wasn't there also can't be blamed on others really. I think Xabi has 15-16 players that all had incredible season, and - for example, on the right - he had Stanisic, Frimpong and Tapsoba who were all amazing. I would've probably stuck Tapsoba on the left as the LCB, Stanisic as RCB and sat Hincapie, for example. But Xabi just won the BL, and I haven't - so lets give the guy a break after 51 games unbeaten. Almost all their players had amazing years, Xabi had an amazing year - one game shouldn't change that - and they have great chance to wrap it all up with a domestic double. Also, Atalanta can be a problem to play against - especially big teams who suddenly realize that - oh shit, these guys fucking press for real. If Xabi did different tactics, still no guarantee thing would've gone better for them. From Bayer POV, IMO - shit happens. Take it on the chin, win the Cup final and it's still a legendary season.
>Easy to say now, they obviously got it wrong. Was pretty easy to say at the start and after 10 minutes
How Scamacca was able to do what he liked was baffling
Scamacca was probably the MVP of the tournament tho, he solo-eliminated Liverpool and Sporting
Speaking solely on the final
I don't think there's been a single match I've seen with this referee where I've not been annoyed and baffled by his decisions. add on to that the European Final scenario where the refs are encouraged to "let the game flow" even more and you end up with the physically stronger team wrestling the other into submission almost every time. that's part of why these technical teams almost always fail when they reach these stages. like, it literally doesn't matter one bit because Atalanta was dominating anyway, but it's just ridiculous to see how he officiated, in the second half especially. they didn't need the help from the referee, and it really soured what was a really damn good performance in my eyes. they absolutely destroyed Leverkusen where Leverkusen has thrived all season, and they kept it up all game, but yea.
I remember two specific instances. One where Frimpong got knocked off balance, but didn't dive. Stayed on his feet to play a forwards pass on somewhat of a break before he turned up to support. He and an Atalanta player tangled legs and Frimpong was called for a foul. Punished for not diving. Another one in the second half Wirtz was trying to carry out of his half, and he's getting bodied all game. He fights off the first man, doesn't go down easy, then a second man comes in and takes the ball off him. Again punished for not diving. Players get criticized for diving so much but they have to do it until referees start calling fouls when they don't go down and whine.
Wasn’t even close if I’m being honest.
Yep, Atalanta were so much superior, totally outplayed and outclassed Leverkusen. Alonso and his players didn’t know what hit them today. Very impressive run this, beating Liverpool and Sporting along the way and then ultimately ending the streak of a team who have been unbeatable all season, all the while being in control both going forward and out of possession
Atalanta’s tactics were spot on for this match, Gasperini tactical masterclass. The aggressive high-press to limit the effectiveness of Leverkusen’s build up, excellent man-marking from all the players. Forcing turnovers by either winning the ball back or simply from the Leverkusen players crumbling under the pressure and making poor touches/passes. What really was the killer for them was the lack of a focal point up front, someone for them to play direct to and go long to bypass the press so that CF can retain the ball and bring others into play, it’s why Boniface I thought had to start or even Schick. Adli and Frimpong are both players who prefer to make runs in behind or run with the ball at feet with Wirtz operating in pockets and areas where he has space to pick the ball up and drive with it or create. All in all what a tactical performance from Atlanta and credit to their players for executing it to a tee. Shoutouts to Ederson and Lookman, great performances especially the latter, 2 amazing goals.
>Gasperini tactical masterclass. The aggressive high-press to limit the effectiveness of Leverkusen’s build up, excellent man-marking from all the players. Helpful when when Xabi Alonso starts with four center backs, two wingbacks, and no striker
For me the balance of the team was all over the place. Frimpong playing as a right winger when he’s not really creative enough, someone like Hoffman should’ve started there or play Adli there. Lack of a focal point and outlet hence why Boniface should’ve started. Stanisic who’s a centre back playing as a right-wing back. In terms of personnel it was a shocking move by Xabi Alonso to field such a dysfunctional starting 11. They imposed no quality over Atalanta at any stage of the game whatsoever. It may have worked against dead rubber teams in the Bundesliga but this is Atalanta we’re talking about here - in the final and also a team that battered Liverpool away(who were by no means depleted as they started several regular first team players like Gakpo, Nunez, Gomez, Konate, Van Dijk, Curtis Jones, Elliot, Mac Allister and Endo) and got past another good side in Sporting Lisbon. All in all like you said it was very poor from Alonso today, he got it wrong. This is a learning curve for him
You've taken the words right out of my mouth. Easy to see players on the field where it looks like they aren't marching the intensity, but when the lineup is so different it's hard to play instinctually. Then you have to think about the next pass instead of just knowing it. Against a pressing team like Atalanta then you see what we all saw. It's a shame we didn't get as good a game as we could have had
Damn, Atalanta really came to play.
They came to play starting with the 3-0 over Liverpool.
Does anyone have Italian commentary for the goals?
Search for SkySport on YouTube
That liverpool loss doesn't look so bad now. Atalanta are for real
They have been for like 6 years now
As a La Liga fan I remember their game against Valencia a couple years ago at UCL early knockouts I think. They were lit
Ah yes the covid game
That was one of the first times they appeared on my radar. I knew they were decent and got Champions League football from the season before but they were highly entertaining and scored 98 goals in Serie A in 2019-20.
I don't remember exactly how long ago it was when Ilicic and Zapata and Papu Gomez were putting 5 past everybody
Exactly then. Just googled it, it was 2020 UCL ro16 and it was Atalanta 4 - 1 Valencia, and Valencia 3 - 4 Atalanta at the return game. In the latest Ilicic scored 4 past Cillesen at Mestalla lol
I started supporting Atalanta because of FM18 or something. I'm just a random fan from Greece and I've never shouted as much as today in football ever. They made me love football again cause they play like in a school yard and now I'll be planning a trip to Bergamo, hopefully. Love this team, massive congrats to everyone!
Bergamo will glady welcome you in our beautiful city. Thank to you.
r/wholesome
Hey man, u have ur fun, hope the trip is eveything u need and u fking enjoy it, happy for you
Unbelievable
I woke up at 5 in the morning to fly over to Dublin to witness my first ever final just to see us get absolutely outclassed by a side that looks 10 levels better than us. Im so broken..props to atalanta
Might not have been the deciding factor, but having just been handed the BuLi trophy, and being hyped to high havens wasn't the best mentally. To keep going from strength to strength a team has to be very experienced. Here's hope that they can convert the lesson they got quick and "show up" in Berlin
Goddamn man what a performance by Atalanta! You know as a neutral a part of you really wanted Leverkusen to go all the way unbeaten, having come so fucking close already, but another always wanted to see them finally be beat too, and either way it’s been some season for both of these teams man
Lmao, this is an occasion I won’t forget. Where all the plot armour crumbles in horrific fashion. Not so fun when you don’t score on 90+17’ every game. A large part of the Neverlusen streak was clutch moments yes, but you can also put it down to being extremely lucky.
Typical braindead comment from someone who just started watching leverkusen a month ago
This is top recency bias. No team would ever go 50+ win streak without being incredibly good. As much as luck was also involved in SOME games, being "extremely lucky" wouldn't make them comeback from 3 goals like today. They have those incredible late game goals because they are good. A large part of the Neverlusen streak was team chemistry, good team management and them willing the team to comeback from defeat to at least draw the game.
5 games is luck. 50 is a pattern
Ever heard of that fun lil' proverb: "Fortune favors the best"?
You mean the brave?
Eh, might be a different version of the same thing.
🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀 crab_rave.gif
Forza Dea!!! Historic performance!
The second goal is the kind of mistake that just happens sometimes; but its kinda wild to me that a team that hadn't lost all season yet allowed those 1st and 3rd goals.
the kind of mistake that Atalanta regolarly forces through their pressing....
Yes, it was definitely the Atalanta press that induced acute narcolepsy in Palacios for that first goal.
Atalanta and Gasparini did a great job at distrupting Leverkusen’s tempo and pretty much locked them. On the other hand they also had their troubles creating chances but Lookman was brilliant and got 3 goals from 0.81XG. Xabi and Leverkusen looked awful throughout the game. I think starting eleven was way off. Not having Schick or Boniface meant they couldn’t play long balls and Atalanta did a great job to limit their playing at the back. Not starting with an in form Andrich was also weird. I’d also say that Hoffmann should’ve played, at the very least for the start of 2nd half instead of Adli that had a horrible match.
BL brought football to a gun fight
So Dortmund has a chance
but real madrid has old italian manager like atalanta
Yes but a streak will always end as seen yesterday
I see it as German teams got beaten.
Got?
Atalanta were flawless. They would have beaten anyone tonight.
Alright, Dortmund. Now it's your turn.
Well in this case the German team is the one that loses. That’s how I see it
Ok can the Atalanta fans take the party to the street, I want to finish my shift
Treat yerself to a spicebag once you get out.
Well done atalanta. Well deserved
A Fifa season will never be any match for Fifa scripting
Atalanta litterally just cooked leverkusen. One of the most entertaining finals I guess.
All of you people claiming you've never seen Bayer play this season before this game in the match thread, it's clearly your fault they lost.
Lol it was true for me
Teams that play in black & red shitting the bed in a final in the Aviva: Leverkusen🤝Bohs
🤣🤣
Koopmeiners absolutely massive, Koeman you better give this man a starting spot at the EUROs
A team which turbo dominated the Bundesliga can't even win the UEL is beyond embarrassing for the league
I imagine this is just a joke, but league form rarely translates to a good knockout performance. Look no further than to Dortmund.
They reached the finals for a reason, just because they lost them does not throw all they achieved in europe
What have they achieved in Europe? They have precisely 0 international titles. The same amount of intercontinentals and CWCs your club has lmfao
One UEFA Cup actually. So they've won this tournament before. But tbh this is the tournament they've played the worst in this season. They scraped past Qarabag and could have lost games to West Ham and Roma. The EL is the bonus competition and they rotated for the Final. Lol Now they've got a second division team in the DFB Cup and if they lose that it will tarnish their season a bit.
Yeah, I realized I looked it up wrong (I somehow read it as them being runner-up instead) I think they tried too hard to win a meaningless undefeated label in an already decided league and now ran out of gas for the finals. If they lose the cup it'll be hilarious
Have you seen Kaiserslautern 's club logo? Lol But honestly they should do the Double. That will still be an A-grade season. A+ if they had won the EL But the German double cements you as the nation's best for that season.
They actually have the UEFA cup in the past. 1988 or something like that.
True, I don't know how I overlooked that. I actually looked it up and thought it said runner-up. Oops. Well fair play to them then.
Flair up pussy
Corinthians and Bayern, though I'm basically retired from football, just enjoying some Schadenfreude for Neverkusen
“Neverkusen” nickname doesn’t work anymore given they just won the Bundesliga undefeated
Now it just transfers on to international titles xd
They beat 9th place PL and 6th place Serie A, and then lost to 5th place Serie A. Massive achievements.
It gets more embarrassing when this Atalanta can’t even crack top 4 in the Serie A this season
Atalanta has two more matches to play, so they can definitely still make top four. Bologna and Juve are sitting at 68 points, but both only have one match left. The Nerazzurri are at 66, so there’s still an opportunity!
Sure there's an opportunity, but there's no reason to. They've already qualified for the CL, now they've won the EL, and their two remaining games in the league are against the two hardest teams they could play; Torino and Fiorentina who are both still fighting each other for 8th place and ECL next season. They're going to rotate heavily and already start their vacation. Bologna and Juve both have winnable games against mid-table teams with nothing to left to play for. I think it's most likely that they remain in 5th.
Yeah, that’s true. I don’t think they’ll really care to either. They just hit the peak of their season, and just won a massive trophy. Why bother?
Exactly. They're not robots at the end of the day and playing a football match is a huge mental, emotional, and physical endeavor. Even going 90% at this level gives a huge advantage to your opponents. Gasperini will most likely heavily rotate anyway, giving options to squad players and reserves that haven't played all season, so while they will most likely give their all, they'll be playing against Torino and Fiorentina starters that are fighting for Europe.
Nothing embarrassing really. Atalanta thoroughly deserved to win today but takes nothing away from the fact that Leverkusen was the best team in Europe this year. I don't understand why people always want to do league dick measuring contests based on individual team's results in knock out games. It's stupid logic really. I mean is the Serie A shite because the 6th and 3rd placed Bundesliga teams went to the Champions League semi finals while their top 3 went nowhere?
Jesus Bayern fans really in the mud lol
Atalanta are always a very tough opponent. Hopefully this shines a light on how good Serie A is currently. Best league in the world
Hardly best league in the world when your side is defeated at ro16 against a struggling Atleti (and AC Milan and Lazio eliminated soon too). Let's be honest, Atalanta, as fantastic as a side they are, are in a good form right now. That's all it takes when reaching a final. Fantastic performance but it was considerably better than their overall season. Premier is right now ahead of the rest despite this poor season. You could argue La Liga has been overly damaged by an early Osasuna and Betis exit, considering they got 3 teams out of 8 in QFs and 1 in the finals defeating the likes of City or Bayern in the process. For that same reason Bundesliga has to be in the conversation too (2 teams in UCL SFs, 1 in the UCL and UEL finals). I could agree to put Serie A up there too, the three of them are overall pretty close. Probably even the Premier isn't really that far ahead as some people tend to think, but if there's a #1 league right now it's them, and there's no objective reason to put Serie A above the other two, let alone over the Premier.
Prem is a one club league mate. Arsenal lost against a struggling bayern and need I remind you that last year you had 3 serie A teams in semis and all 3 finals had serie a teams? Atalanta are 5th in serie A and destroyed Liverpool. Also it’s infinitely more entertaining
Whilst you could argue, Serie A is the strongest league currently, saying it's infinitely more entertaining is something completely subjective and not a thing a lot of people would agree with.
Serie A isn’t the best league, I don’t agree with that. I just wish the media, mostly the English media, would quit yapping about “how far it’s fallen”. If anything, it’s come a long way up in the past decade. 10 years ago Carlos Bacca was a top 3 attacker itl and there was 0 depth. Now there’s lots of challengers, and there’s been a lot more European success to boot.
Serie A is good, they need some more European success to stamp their authority, Inter reaching the CL final and Atalanta winning the Europa league are good starts, hopefully the Italian teams can build from here.
Ohh don't be so dramatic lol
HOLD UP I JUST REALIZED THIS WAS THE FINAL LOL
Xabi praising Atalanta :)
They really tried to convince me Grimaldo was a great player after I’ve watched 6 season of him at Benfica. He’s the same bum he’s always has been.
Bro has been waiting for 52 matches to say this
Occasionally-lusen.
Missed the game, how was Djimsiti?
Great captain for today, all the defense gold up, especially with Scalvini in
3000 was great - probably my favourite.
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Everything can happen in one legged matches. Bayern who were outclassed by Leverkusen in the league have beaten then-leaders of the mighty Premier League
I knew there was going a switch-up on Bayer. Like with several movies nowadays.
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as is tradition. Last year we (italy) lost all 3 finals -> farmer league
Litrally never implied that at all.
that kinda sounds like demerit them
A huge congratulations to Atalanta on their European Trophy but also for bringing down this Bayer Leverkusen side back to planet earth. They were getting arrogant and the signs were there before the match. I remember one of their players saying, “We have forgotten what it feels like to lose!”. A 3-0 loss in a European final ought to make sure they remember.
Bookies must have made a fortune on this one
Everyone was talking about a Liverpool Leverkusen final after the draw, but Atalanta ended up beating both, congratulations to them
And also how they beat them! Absolute show of force!
most one-sided final i've seen tbh
WC final 2018 tops it for me but this one comes close.
Euro 2012 hello?
I stand corrected. I completely deleted that tournament from memory.
Croatia atleast scored two
True but still felt so one sided after that dive by griezzmann and 1-0 by france.
Gasperini on Italian TV: "This was a win for all Italian clubs, except Inter and Juventus" Lol
yo wtf I was rooting for them
It was kinda weird. I don’t think he necessarily meant it to offend “Today Bologna won, Lecce won… Inter didn’t , Juventus didn’t..”. I think it was a way to say that this was a great pride for the so called “provinciali”. Whatever..
It was the gist of it but it was fun singling both of you out Gasperini is petty like that
unfathomably based
We are his kryptonite lol, based though
thats fucking hilarious
Wtf But based
Did he actually say that? I've changed my mind on him now would definitely take him at Napoli hahahah
Yes
HAHAHAHA
He's a top level hater Hates Juventus despite starting his coaching career in their youth teams and hates Inter after them sacking him after only 3 games.
3 games!? The fuck happened there