Xabi Alonso accepted the bitter end of his giant series with Bayer Leverkusen with a sad look on his face. The German football champions suffered their first defeat of the season in the final of the Europa League. The triple dream has been shattered. The spoilsport in Bayer’s 52nd competitive match in the 0:3 (0:2) defeat against Atalanta Bergamo in Dublin was the outstanding former Leipzig player Ademola Lookman, who scored all three goals against an unusually nervous and erratic Leverkusen team (12th, 26th and 75th minute).
“It’s extremely bitter, but we have to be honest, it was deserved,” said national player Robert Andrich on RTL. “If you get three goals but don’t score any, it’s deserved. It wasn’t enough today, especially on offense.”
Disappointment at Bayer Leverkusen
Coach Alonso hugged his disappointed professionals immediately after the final whistle – there is still a lot at stake. In the DFB Cup final on Saturday against 1. FC Kaiserslautern, Bayer is playing for the double. The fans in Dublin chanted loudly: “Berlin, Berlin, we’re going to Berlin.” But Andrich didn’t want to talk about anticipation that evening: “At the moment it’s disappointment.”
In their third European final after winning the UEFA Cup in 1988 and losing the Champions League in 2002, Leverkusen suffered their second defeat. Bergamo, on the other hand, won their first international title in their first final and are the first Italian winners ever in the Europa League, which was introduced in 2011.
tkr with agencies
