A hat-trick and a sensational efficiency from Ademola Lookman ended Bayer Leverkusen’s unbeaten run and and introduced their goals of a treble to an finish in a humbling 3-0 defeat to Atalanta at an extremely noisy Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Wednesday night time
The stakes couldn’t have been greater for Leverkusen, who got here into the tie chasing a 52nd consecutive match with out defeat and the second piece of their three-trophy sweep.
Atalanta, in the meantime, had been in uncharted territory, having reached a primary European closing of their 117-year historical past.
It was an enormous day for each golf equipment and each units of followers had been clearly intent on having fun with their day within the Irish capital, entering into their seats early and ringing out their chants from effectively earlier than kick-off.
But it surely was the Italian facet who seemed much more comfortable throughout a gap 45 minutes that would not have gone any higher for them.
Additional.ie. reviews that the Bergamo outfit made a far brighter begin than their nervy German counterparts and it didn’t take lengthy for them to open the scoring.
After Lookman overcooked a nook on Atalanta’s left, Teun Koopmeiners collected it throughout on the far flank and opened up Davide Zappacosta down the channel. The previous Chelsea man reduce one again throughout the world within the route of Lookman on the far facet. Catching Exequiel Palacios utterly unawares, the ex-Everton star skipped previous the midfielder and curled an exquisite and unstoppable effort into the close to put up.
The purpose did little to calm Alonso’s facet, who seemed to be annoyed and struggled to get again into the sport within the minutes after going behind.
Atalanta saved on making use of the stress and doubled their lead solely minutes later when Lookman fired residence a good higher strike.
After shedding the ball in midfield from a goal-kick, it fell on the ft of Lookman who, after a quick pause, skinned Granit Xhaka in a flash and launched a pitch-perfect curled effort previous Matej Kovar.
Now down 2-0 for a fourth time on this yr’s knockout stage, Alonso’s fees as soon as once more left all of it to do for themselves
The latter durations of the half noticed the German champions develop into the sport however their efforts generated little, too typically counting on the tempo of Jeremy Frimpong to strive get behind the Atalanta rearguard.
LEADERSHIP reviews that Ademola Lookman has scored extra objectives within the Europa League closing than he did in three seasons of Premier League soccer with Everton.