It was a night to remember for Atalanta fans in Dublin as an Ademola Lookman hat-trick secured the Bergamo side their first piece of silverware since 1963.
In doing so, the win also drew an end to Bayer Leverkusen's frankly outrageous 51-game unbeaten run in all competitions and stopped the German side winning a treble.
Xabi Alonso's side were the favourites to win at the Aviva as they had been arguably the best side in Europe this season, brushing aside the Bundesliga and ending Bayern Munich's reign of dominance in the German top flight.
Atalanta on the other hand are fifth in the Serie A with two games to go currently and weren't in any place to compete with Inter who ran away with the Scudetto. Despite beating Liverpool on their way to reach the final, the majority still had Bayer Leverkusen down as winners.
However not everyone wrote off the Italian side's chances in Dublin before the game.
Brian Kerr Was Keen To Tell People He Called That Atalanta Would Win
Speaking at the end of Virgin Media's post match analysis of the Europa League former Republic of Ireland manager Brian Kerr was praising Alonso and Leverkusen on their miraculous run this season, but was quick to point out he predicted that it would come to an end in Dublin.
This season dramatically, without spending huge amounts of money, got Xhaka in, Grimaldo in, not much else and their performance this year, 51 games unbeaten between the Bundesliga, this competition (Europa League) and the cup (DFB Pokal). You think some day someone is going to do them. It came tonight and I thought it might be tonight because I knew the opposition were a good team.
51-out.
A good innings for Xabi Alonso and Bayer Leverkusen's unbeaten run. Brian Kerr called it. 😅#UELfinal | #UEL pic.twitter.com/H1rn0byOYj
— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) May 22, 2024
Kerr knows a thing or two about football it's fair to say and with John O'Shea staying on as interim Republic of Ireland manager for next month's internationals we could see Kerr continue his role on O'Shea's coaching ticket.
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