Atalanta gave Bayer Leverkusen a football lesson in the Europa League final: pressing, intensity and great organization were the foundations for the feat.
Gian Piero Gasperini he made a true masterpiece in the Europa League: Atalanta gave Bayer Leverkusen a football lesson of the young coach Xabi Alonso, who got totally confused by the Goddess’ game. Simple principles, already repeated several times this season, but which left the German team with no escape, having never lost in any competition this season.
The Nerazzurri were practically perfect on all fronts and on the most important night of all Gasperini was able to concentrate all the dictates of his football, his philosophy and his ideas in 90 minutes. Atalanta is the most European team among the Italians and winning the cup is the best recognition for a project that started 8 years ago, with the arrival of the coach on the bench. There is one frame in particular that explains very well what the secrets are behind a victory that made history.
How Atalanta beat Bayer
The Europa League final was by no means a given: on the other side of the fence was Bayer Leverkusen, one of Europe’s great surprises, who with Xabi Alonso he won the first title in his history undefeated. The aura of invincibility also spilled over into the cup, but Atalanta completely turned the tables, making the new German champions appear tiny. but how did Gasperini manage to completely wrap up his opponents?
Who is Istvan Kovacs, referee of the Europa League final Atalanta-Bayer Leverkusen
The cornerstones of his game are always the same and in the final they were expressed to their full potential. The Goddess prevented Bayer from playing the game openly as he is usually used to doing, charging the opposing defenders to the max and carrying everything forward with very high intensity. The aggressiveness of the Bergamo players was one of the keys to the challenge: from the first to the last minute there was an asphyxiating pressing, accompanied by impeccable organization in all phases of the game which allowed Atalanta to recover balls, always find themselves in numerical superiority and block all sources of play by Xabi Alonso.
The keys to Atalanta’s game in the final
Gasperini’s concepts found their peak in the action that led to the 2-0 goal Lookman, one of the most brilliant interpreters of the Goddess: a few moments before the network l‘Atalanta had managed to bring 8 men into Bayer Leverkusen’s attacking midfield, an invasion on all fronts that completely blocked the Germans and opened up an enormous range of possibilities. In this case the Nigerian did the rest with his talent and brilliance, but the siege was total.
In doing so, Gasperini completely harnessed the opposing defenders. Xabi Alonso couldn’t set up his game from behindgiven that very often his central defenders found themselves involved in 1vs1 matches and were forced to resort to long balls much more than usual. The Italians’ pressing led them to make mistakes very often: Bayer almost never managed to escape the pressure with their usual verticalisations and more than once very dangerous balls were lost. A situation that favored the people of Bergamo, led in midfield by Ederson who did a masterful job of recovering balls allowing all his teammates to move up and attack the opponent’s area with intensity and organisation.
