Atalanta Bergamo – Bayer Leverkusen: The Goddess Engulfs Xabi’s Immortals To European Glory (3-0)

To end a run of three cup final defeats under Gian Piero Gasperini, Atalanta Bergamo needed to end Xabi Alonso’s winning machine for European glory. With an intense off-ball plan they made Bayer Leverkusen look unrecognizable, and Ademola Lookman was there to reap the rewards on a historic night in Dublin.

Tactical analysis and match report by Joel Parker.

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The Europa League has a good run of pulling unique finals together, yet the journey that both Atalanta and Leverkusen have been on made this feel extra special. No cities as small as Bergamo or Leverkusen had met in a European final before, but not many finals have hosted two teams with as compelling stories.

Atalanta haven’t been as close to European glory, not since a deep Champions League run in the lockdown years. Under the longest-serving coach in Serie A, Gasperini has had to face rebuild after rebuild but has constantly maintained a level well above when he first entered. And yet, Atalanta kept on being underestimated: knocking out Sporting CP, Liverpool and Marseille is a very impressive run to Dublin. Now the Goddess was ninety minutes away from European immortality.

In their way was Bayer Leverkusen, fifty-one games unbeaten whose transformation from Neverkusen to Never-losing has been the story of the season. After all, this is a team two games away from completing an unbeaten, treble-winning season, perhaps the real magnitude of Leverkusen’s success will hit home in retrospect. Having won the league a month ago, Xabi Alonso’s ability to keep the momentum is an incredible feat. Could they stay at that level in a European final?

Gasperini’s big omission was Marten de Roon in midfield, but there was a spot for him on the bench. Teun Koopmeiners was the man next to Éderson, whilst Sead Kolašinac was able to play in defense, despite being a doubt. In the attack, Ademola Lookman was preferred next to Charles De Ketelaere and Gianluca Scamacca.

Xabi Alonso started both his recognised strikers, Victor Boniface and Patrik Schick, on the bench. Amine Adli took the place next to Florian Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong in the attack. This saw Josip Stanišić start as the right wing-back and cup goalkeeper, Matej Kovar, came back into the team.

Atalanta intensity suffocates Leverkusen

From the first few phases, it was clear where this final was going to be decided. Bayer Leverkusen’s dominance has stemmed from a buildup unit that is effective at passing the ball into pressure to release one of the attackers in space, how would this fair against Atalanta’s intense man-marking scheme? In the first few sequences, Leverkusen had Granit Xhaka passing around his shoulder to find Wirtz and Adli coming out of the central spot to build a third-man combination, but Atalanta’s intensity soon throttled Leverkusen’s in-possession patterns.

Éderson and Koopmeiners were responsible for man-marking Xhaka and Exequiel Palacios, regardless of the different lines that the Leverkusen duo moved into. The important part of their responsibilities was always blocking off the forward passing lane, not overcommitting when the player was not in possession, before swallowing up the space to force them into releasing the ball quickly. As a result, a lot of passes were miscued or overhit from the double pivot.

2^nd minute: Passing pattern from Leverkusen goes astray. As Wirtz dropped to drag Berat Djimsiti, Frimpong tried to exploit the gaps in Atalanta’s defensive line. The problem was that Stanišić’s only short option was the double pivot, who played the ball into the pressing trap. Atalanta collapsed onto this space, which put huge pressure on Xhaka and rushed a pass that bounced into Davide Zappacosta’s path.

Out of possession, the switchability between Atalanta’s defense and midfield kept their intensity on Leverkusen’s short circuit. Whether it was the wing-back swapping with the wide center-back, or the two center-midfielders having to exchange their man-marking targets, Atalanta kept their compactness and made short connections very difficult for Leverkusen to execute.

Yet it was not just short passes into pressure that Leverkusen were trying to play. Throughout the first period of the game, the center-backs played longer passes out without baiting the Atalanta block into a high press. The idea from Leverkusen was to use double movements to spin around the man marking center-backs, Wirtz was the most dangerous with these movements. However, the longer the distance, the harder it is to execute such moves and Atalanta still kept their ruthless intensity when Leverkusen moved the ball into the corners of their defensive third.

9^th minute: Long pass from Stanišić tried to exploit the distances between Atalanta’s center-backs. However, Leverkusen moved the ball into an area where their opponents could apply a lot of pressure and Matteo Ruggeri had blocked off the option for a channel pass. The ball from Stanišić deflected off Ruggeri and Kolašinac intercepted the move, with Koopmeiners in a position to receive having strictly followed Xhaka coming towards the ball.

As a result, Atalanta’s off-ball approach had rocked Leverkusen and they gave away a lot of loose passes. Having committed uncharacteristic long balls, it was very difficult for Xabi’s team to reset in-possession or be able to change the tempo in the game. Breaks that they had came in more transition-like situations, but Atalanta strictly kept their man marking to be positioned in front of the Leverkusen player. A pass back and Atalanta could begin the aggressive process once again.

Lookman ignites

Gasperini’s team could not look to reset in a deep buildup themselves, so they kept the intensity by attacking the transition when they had the ball. They had some success attacking the wider channel in these scenarios, Scamacca was effective at moving the ball out of the central zone and into the spaces out wide, whether it was De Ketelaere spinning around Piero Hincapié or Lookman attacking Edmond Tapsoba from a deeper position.

Seven minutes in and Lookman had already caused Leverkusen problems. On the transition, Lookman dribbled around Wirtz and Palacios to tee up Ruggeri’s cross, Scamacca’s header bouncing off both him and Hincapié before bouncing out wide.

But Atalanta were soon rewarded for their controlled start against the Bundesliga champions. In the second phase from a corner, Koopmeiners recovered the ball on the touchline and Zappacosta was allowed to receive as they established a three-versus-two on the right. The wing-back drove the ball across the six-yard box, Palacios worst aware as Lookman pounced to put the ball into the top left corner of the goal.

Atalanta continued to frustrate Leverkusen after the first goal, breaking up play through timed jumps or fouling players deep in their half. Xabi’s team showed more fluidity when they built vertically from one side to the other, as opposed to going more directly down one channel, but these moments came few and far between as Gasperini’s team kept to their intense approach. On the transition, both Lookman and De Ketelaere had close support from the wing-backs, so they could make progress quickly down the wider channel.

25^th minute: Buildup to Atalanta’s second goal. Adli heads back a long kick from Kovar, but Leverkusen’s midfield is at a complete disadvantage to compete with the knockdown as the ball ran past Wirtz and three Atalanta players were positioned to support the transition. In the end, Lookman did not need anyone.  

The compactness of Atalanta’s center also played to their advantage in the transition. As Leverkusen tried to manipulate their last line more, Wirtz found himself more isolated when he dropped as Adli and Frimpong tried to stretch. However, in Atalanta’s second goal, Lookman picked up the ball in a lot of space to attack the Leverkusen defense. He nutmegged Xhaka and moved the ball to the edge of the semi-circle before he unleashed a venomous shot into the bottom right corner that sent Atalanta into raptures.

Éderson and Koopmeiners keep restricting

Leverkusen was in no position to find momentum after Atalanta had grabbed their second. Even in deeper buildup scenarios, Éderson and Koopmeiners had taken up even higher positions against the opposition center-midfielders to squeeze the time they had in possession. Wirtz was now dropping to be a part of the deeper build a lot more, which saw Isak Hien following him down the pitch. As play funnelled towards one side, the far-sided center-midfielder had two responsibilities, either to collapse onto Wirtz’s space or press one of the Leverkusen team-mates that he was originally man-marking.

31^st minute: Even more aggressive positions from Éderson and Koopmeiners as Leverkusen tried to build down the left side. After giving the ball to Palacios, Grimaldo curved a run inside but was tracked by Zappacosta and Wirtz tried to support with the passing angle, but was double-marked by both Éderson and Hien. Palacios made a shaky pass behind Hincapié as Koopmeiners, Éderson and De Ketelaere all squeezed the space.

As a result, Atalanta continued to have the upper hand when Leverkusen where in the deeper part of their buildup, although Xabi’s team started to get into some decent areas before the first period was up. Just after the half-hour mark, Alejandro Grimaldo made an effective third-man run which got him past Hien and inside of Djimsiti; perhaps Juan Musso rushing out to the edge of the box rushed his decision-making as the left wing-back appeared to pass the ball straight into the goalkeeper’s chest.

Wirtz almost got onto the end of a similar pattern down the same side, both center-backs caught out from Xhaka’s chipped ball but Musso was once again quick to react. From deeper areas, Frimpong was also able to get onto a couple of long balls when he ran from the right to the center of the field, but Atalanta marshalled him away from getting a shot off. Leverkusen found one or two sequences that looked promising, the intensity from Atalanta off the ball had masked some of the deficiencies in the defensive line, but without arranging themselves in two-versus-twos at the back, it would have enabled Leverkusen to distribute the ball around their circuit more effectively. Instead, Koopmeiners and Éderson had nullified their ability to do so.

Two shots in half an hour

Something needed to change for Xabi Alonso. Out came Stanišić and on came Boniface, whilst Gasperini was also forced into a substitution as Giorgio Scalvini replaced the injured Kolašinac. Now Frimpong was directly a right wing-back with Adli alongside him down that channel. However, now Stanišić was off the field, it left Lookman plenty of room to receive and dribble the ball against Tapsoba with Frimpong a lot more committed to the attack.

In the second period, Atalanta gave up a lot more territory. Even when players were positioned in a high block, the emphasis turned to reset and remaining compact, as opposed to pressing high and forcing Leverkusen into sloppy passes infield. In turn, Tapsoba started to support the attacks a bit more, but Leverkusen missed their fluency as Koopmeiners continued to step up, alongside Scamacca, to block off forward passing lanes for Xhaka. Although the team was less aggressive collectively, Atalanta still had moments situationally or within their compactness that required them to engage and stop their opponents from connecting.

Leverkusen’s first shot of the second period did not come until just before the hour mark. Wirtz tried to connect with Boniface, in the middle of a busy area, but the ball ran through the crowd Adli put in a cross. Musso parried the ball, which fell to Frimpong in a good location, but the height and speed made a close attempt awkward.

66^th minute: Counterpressure from Leverkusen still left Mario Pašalić a route to escape as Bayer where way too lopsided. Lookman stretched the play by taking up a wider position and Éderson connected to make Lookman one-versus-one with Tapsoba. Lookman was fouled in the process.

After this attempt, Leverkusen had great difficulty in pinning Atalanta back. The bulk of Leverkusen’s passes were transfixed in playing down the middle and runs, on the transition, matched that too when trying to slow the game down and finding better connections could have been more optimal. Once more, space was left for Atalanta to give Lookman the ball on the transition.

Xabi looked short of answers, unable to influence the game as control had been in Atalanta’s hands since the start. With fifteen minutes left, substitute Mario Pašalić broke up a passing move and Scamacca was in a position to run at the defense. The Italian had plenty to do, with Jonathan Tah and Tapsoba still in proximity, but to his left was Lookman, ready to skin his opponent again. A stepover gave him the separation and he fired the ball into the top corner to complete a hat-trick in a European final. Even for the Neverlusen, this was a step too far.

Takeaways

At last, Gasperini’s legendary tenure with Atalanta is rewarded with a trophy. Having to rebuild your team is a task on its own, but Atalanta’s model has required him to reinvest constantly. Despite the many players to have set up shop in Bergamo, Gasperini has abided by a strict set of defensive rules for his team to follow and on the grandest stage that he had taken this team, it has paid off.

This wasn’t just a fortunate cup draw either. Atalanta faced two of the best teams in the competition and to end Leverkusen’s incredible unbeaten streak, in order to claim that trophy, makes that taste just a little bit sweeter. No club in Italy has been run as effectively as Atalanta over his tenure. A structure that is worth replicating and a coach that was long overdue his flowers.

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