Atalanta shatter record books after Europa League triumph

Atalanta shattered record books after their 3-0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen in the final of the Europa League on Wednesday.

Ademola Lookman's brilliant hat-trick helped Atalanta bag a second major trophy in their 117-year history in the final in Dublin.

According to Opta, at 66 years and 117 days, Gian Piero Gasperini is the oldest coach to win his debut major European final, and the second Italian coach to win the UEFA Europa League after Maurizio Sarri in 2019.

Atalanta also won their first major European trophy, becoming the first Italian team to win the UEFA Cup/Europa League since Parma in 1999.

Meanwhile, Lookman is only the second player to score a hat-trick in the final of a major European competition for an Italian side, after Pierino Prati in Milan against Ajax in the 1969 European Cup.

Gasperini was over the moon after 25 "cursed" years as his side became the first Italian club to win the competition since Parma in 1999, when it was known as the UEFA Cup.

"Hugely proud for all of Italy, because it was a cursed trophy, even if it was only Inter and Roma who made the final over the last 25 years and lost," Gasperini told reporters.

"Having won it with Atalanta is perhaps one of those footballing fairytales that very rarely happen and it does show there's still room for meritocracy in football.

"There's still room for ideas, and it doesn't only come down to numbers and the super league (clubs)."

Bayer Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso was happy for his side’s European record unbeaten run but will try to use the pain of Wednesday's Europa League final defeat to motivate them for another final in three days time.

Leverkusen crushed Bayern Munich's 11-year Bundesliga title monopoly in Germany and can still secure a domestic double with win over Kaiserslautern in Saturday's German Cup final.

"The normality is not to get defeated in the 52nd game. Normally it happens much earlier in the season. It's been quite exceptional what we have achieved and we have to be really proud, probably in some time but for sure today it's painful," Alonso told a news conference

"We will learn, I will learn because these defeats in the final, you don't forget them."

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