Atalanta to Face Bayer in Historic Cup Final in Dublin

Bayer will compete for the cup on May 22 in Dublin with Bergamo, who beat Marseille 3-0 at home after a 1-1 draw last week. Atalanta will play in the final of a European competition for the first time in the club’s history.

Leverkusen can win a second European cup, in 1988 they won the UEFA Cup at the time. The German champions are now unbeaten for the 49th time in a row, breaking Benfica Lisbon’s 59-year-old European record. Hložek, Kovář and Schick were followed by goalkeeper Tomáš Vaclík, who, as the last Czech to date, watched Sevilla’s win over Inter Milan from the bench four years ago in the Europa League final.

Leverkusen had more of the game, in the best chances in the first half, but after half an hour Palacios hit the post and in the 39th minute Hložek sent a volley from close range only to the lying goalkeeper Svilar. Soon came punishment on the other side. The movement kept Azmún in the box, and referee Makkelie ordered a penalty, which Paredes converted with clarity in the middle of the goal. Kovář did not keep his sixth clean sheet in his 11th start in the competition.

Although they conceded a goal, the home side went into the second half well. One of Hložek’s chances was also active, but today he did not follow up on the three assists from Sunday’s league duel in Frankfurt. On the other hand, in the 63rd minute, after a corner kick, he played with his hand in his own goal, and Paredes equalized the score from the second penalty.

A quarter of an hour before the end, Hložka was replaced during an attack by Schick, who made a mistake in the 82nd minute at the decisive moment of the game. Goalkeeper Svilar, after a fight with the Czech striker, pounced from a corner kick and the wonder stopper Mancini hit the ball into his own net. Stanišič also extended Leverkusen’s unbeaten streak after the break in the final act of the game.

Bayer AS returned from last year’s elimination in the semi-finals of the competition and still holds the chance to win three awards in the season. He is also in the game in the German Cup, in which he will face Kaiserslautern in the second division in the final.

Bergamo players fired twice into the goal structure in the opening act, but after half an hour they already had to wait. Lookman headed the ball to the center outside the penalty area and opened the scoring with a spot kick. Furthermore, in the 52nd minute, the England striker hit the ball to Ruggeri, who scored the second goal with an incomparable shot under the crossbar.

Marseille could not respond, substitute Touré added safety in the set-up. In two weeks in the capital of Ireland, Atalanta can only win the second cup in the club’s history, after only winning the Coppa Italia in the 1962/63 season.