Hear
The second step of the European cups has a new champion, to a team that had never wet its lips with the glory of a continental title and in Dublin crowned a long-term project, lasting years, sustained on a clear course since the leadership of the club, continued in the coach and reflected in a team very identified with a line of play. Atalanta, which Pep Guardiola compared to a “visit to the dentist” when he once faced him in the Champions League, ended the unbeaten record of the season in the Old Continent. The Bergamo club beat Bayer Leverkusen 3-0, that knew defeat after being undefeated in 51 official matches, and lifted the Europa League at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
If Bayer Leverkusen – dethroned Bayern Munich from the Bundesliga after 11 years and still has the German Cup final ahead – was an overwhelming emergence that took everyone by surprise in the season, Atalanta is the prize for perseverance, which fills with meaning and substance that word that in football everyone invokes and few fulfill: project.
The goal was scored by the left winger Ademola Lookman, a Londoner who plays for the Nigerian national team, the land of his ancestors. Author of a hat-trick; in the first goal, he anticipated Exequiel Palacios to define with his left foot a center back from the right by Davide Zappacosta. The play had Atalanta’s trademark: depth on the wings and finishing inside. The other two from Lookman were great goals, from the right, one from outside the area and the other with a cross shot from a corner. The Charlton-trained forward arrived in mid-2022, from Leipzig, for €9.35 million. His hiring represents the transfer model: comb the market in search of low or medium cost reinforcements, from which it obtains a greater football return. “We cannot spend like the big clubs,” usually repeats Antonio Percassi, the owner, former central defender of the club and ideologist of the football model. Lookman had two goals in this Europa League before the explosion in the final.
Was Argentine celebration. Juan Musso, Mostly a substitute in Serie A in his third season in Bergamo, he was a starter in the Europa League campaign. In 12 appearances he conceded eight goals and kept an undefeated record in five games. The archer emerged in Racingwith safe and attentive work, managed to Bayer Leverkusen did not score after 23 matches. To do this, he mastered the times and spaces well to go out to cut or clear centers; He also won one-on-one against Grimaldo. Impeccable performance.
Unforgettable day for Musso, who tied himself during the celebration an Argentine flag around the neck and he was accompanied in the stadium by his parents, sister, brother, to whom he gave the gloves, his partner and son. After joining the squads of the Argentine national team champion in the Copa América and in the Finalísima, Musso does not appear in the latest call for Lionel Scaloni which will be the base for the Copa América in the United States. “I feel part (of the team), it will surely be a matter of time, I will return at any time. Before the World Cup I suffered an injury and I didn’t play for a while. I feel in the best moment of my career, ready for when the call comes,” Musso said in statements to ESPN.
At 30 years old, Musso won his first title in the six years he has been in Europe (three in Udinese). “He had a lot of faith, he saw the team motivated and confident. We had left behind important rivals. I have been dreaming of a title for a long time and That it happens like this, with a 3-0 against the best European team of the moment, is incredible. I asked God a lot to win a title. We deserved it, so did the fans, about 30 thousand came, it was impressive. I told my teammates: if we score a goal we win the title because we are going to keep a clean sheet. Lookman went over, made three,” he added.
The other Argentine on the squad is Juan Palomino, in the season with fewer minutes than the seven he has spent at Atalanta. The defender only played 10 minutes, against Sporting Lisbon, in the Europa League. “We were never in a game, They were always faster and more attentive to the second ball. They are deserved champions. Congratulations,” was the sincere recognition of Exequiel Palacios, replaced 23 minutes into the second half.
The technical director Gian Piero Gasperini (66 years old) is on track to complete eight years in office and has one more left on his contract. During his management he had lost three finals in Italy, the most recent was a week ago, against Juventus, for the Italian Cup. Now he just gave Atalanta the second title of its history, after the distant Italian Cup of 1963. The lack of success expressed in the monetary value of a trophy did not overshadow other merits of the cycle. Atalanta is a constant entertainer of Serie A. It was relegated in 2010, promoted in 2011, in 2019 it qualified for the Champions League for the first time and in 2020 it reached the quarterfinals.
In this Europa League they made the big impact by eliminating in the quarterfinals Liverpool, to whom they inflicted a 3-0 defeat at Anfield Road. In the second round he had left behind Sporting Lisbon (champion in Portugal) and in the semifinals he accounted for Olympique Marseille. It all started with first place in Group D and the only defeat along the way was against Liverpool, 1-0 in the rematch, after 3-0 in the first leg.
On the night of the consecration, Atalanta was true to itself, imposing its model on a rival very accustomed to comebacks and who this time found themselves defeated long before the end. Gasperini’s 3-4-3 deployed his usual script of high pressure and one against one (Marcelo Bielsa is one of the inspirations of the Italian coach) all over the field. The Brazilian Ederson Silva, with a very good performance, was the shadow over Palacios.
Percassi was already seen excited before the match, when he came out to greet the fans, in a smaller number than the Bayer fans. 70 years old, the owner is noted as the great architect of this Atalanta. “Gasperini changed our mentality. Our goal was always to save ourselves, to stay in Serie A. I didn’t know if this type of offensive football that the coach proposed could be developed in a provincial team. There was a risk. Now we will celebrate 14 years in Serie A. This is a record in the history of the club. We did not expect such a transformation. With a type of football that has become something revolutionary,” Percassi expressed some time ago.
Gasperini had already built a great Atalanta years ago with Alejandro “Papu” Gómez and the Colombians Duvan Zapata and Luis Muriel. Her relationship with “Papu” ended badly, they argued heavily and some say they came to blows. They recently reconciled, put aside their differences and put the good times shared first. It’s not easy Gasperini. Musso acknowledged that he also had his “comings and goings”, but recognizes him as “a great coach.” He is the one who made a provincial city, with 120,000 inhabitantsovershadowed by the strong neighbors of Milan, live the pride of being champion in Europe.
