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Xabi Alonso’s unbeaten Bayer to face Atalanta in Europa League final

Bayer Leverkusen and Atalanta will meet in this year’s Europa League final. The German side finished in a dramatic 2:2 draw with Roma in the return leg of their semi-finals, equalizing deep into stoppage time to continue its undefeated streak across all competitions, which now stretches to 49 games. Roma were 0:2 up in the match until the 82nd minute after Leandro Paredes scored 2 penalties and Xabi Alonso’s players missed countless opportunities. Then Gianluca Mancini scored in his own net and Josip Stanisic leveled the score in the 97th minute. With the victory Bayer managed to gain revenge on Roma for last season when both sides met at the same stage of the tournament but it was the Italians who went on to reach the final.

In the other semi-final, Atalanta had no issues in eliminating the French Marseille, winning the 2nd meeting 3:0 at home and continues to the final in Dublin with a 4:1 victory on aggregate. Ademola Lookman opened the score with 30 minutes gone, and Matteo Ruggeri added another short after the break in the 52nd minute. El Bilal Toure rounded off the final score with a goal in stoppage time to send Atalanta to its first ever European final.



 Author: Paul Kemp

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