Atalanta vs Bayer Leverkusen LIVE: Europa League final team news, line-ups and more tonight

Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso said: “We know that for the last five years Atalanta have had a very clear identity under Gian Piero Gasperini.

“We are very familiar with the team but this is a team that continues to progress and evolve. We have played against similar teams in Germany but what matters above all tomorrow is mentality.

“We have a gamplan but the players still have that wonderful atmosphere from the title celebrations on Saturday and we want to tap into that.”

“Leverkusen are a complete team; extremely organised. They are versatile, they can defend and recover the ball well. The results they have achieved this season are not an accident.

“Certainly, small details can make the difference in a final. We have to respect them and try to adapt quickly to the opponents we are facing.”

Gian Piero Gasperini spoke at his pre-match press conference yesterday saying: “We believe that we have prepared everything we had to prepare so we are just eager to play and we have to find the right level of calmness to spend the next 24 hours knowing that we have done everything we had to do.

“Gianlucca Scamacca has improved drastically in recent months, not only in terms of goals but also in terms of performances. We certainly missed him in the Coppa Italia final against Juventus. I’m glad we will have all our attackers available tomorrow.

“I think we are in the best possible condition in a psychological and physical sense. I’m very sad about Marten de Roon’s absence, first of all because he deserved to play in this game, and then because he is a key player for us. But I think we are in a very good condition otherwise.

“We are aware that we are facing a great team. We know that they are undefeated and we know that they have had an amazing season. Our journey, however, was also very good as we beat very strong teams to reach the final and we also have belief.”

Former Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Shay Given says that Atalanta’s victory over Liverpool in the quarter-finals of the Europa League means they are a force to be reckoned with tonight.

He said: “Atalanta’s standout performance would definitely be Liverpool in the quarter-finals at Anfield. I was working that night for TV and the score kept popping up and I was thinking, ‘That can’t be right – they must have got it the wrong way round.’

“Everyone around Europe took notice of that result. Leverkusen will probably analyse that game a lot because they were so good on the night at Anfield and they could have scored more.”

Two former Arsenal stars have been having their say on tonight’s match with Robert Pirès, the famous ex-Arsenal and France midfielder picking out Granit Xhaka as one to watch.

He said: “Granit Xhaka is very important for Leverkusen; he has played very well and provides a good balance for the team. He has a lot of experience and that’s why Xabi Alonso wanted to get him from Arsenal.”

Xhaka of course joined the German side after leaving the Gunners last summer. This will be his second Europa League final, he lost his first on in 2019 when Arsenal were beaten 4-1 by Chelsea, and hopes to go one better tonight.

“You always get a second chance in life,” he said. “This time, I want to make the most of it.”

This is what the teams are battling for this evening.

The Europa League trophy stands at 65cm tall and weighs 15kg. A silver cup on a yellow marble plinth, it was designed and crafted by the Bertoni workshop in Milan.

Just above the plinth, a group of players seem to be jostling for the ball, when, in fact, they are supporting the octagonal ‘cup’ which is emblazoned with the Uefa emblem.

Leverkusen coach, Xabi Alonso, said: “We are very familiar with [Atalanta] but this is a team that continues to progress and evolve. We have played against similar teams in Germany but what matters above all tomorrow is mentality.

“We have a gameplan but the players still have that wonderful atmosphere from the title celebrations on Saturday and we want to tap into that.

“It’s a different thing to have a final as a player and as a coach. Now it’s like this: when the ball is rolling, it’s time for the players. But I have great confidence in my team. They will do it.”

Atalanta coach, Gian Piero Gasperini, spoke in the build up to the final and gave his thoughts on what he is expecting from the game saying: “We believe that we have prepared everything we had to prepare so we are just eager to play. We are in the best possible condition in a psychological and physical sense.

“We are aware that we are facing a great team. We know that Leverkusen are unbeaten and we know that they have had an amazing season.

“The results they have achieved this season are not an accident. Certainly, small details can make the difference in a final. We have to respect them and try to adapt quickly to the opponents we are facing.”

As Xabi Alonso arrived into Dublin, he was of course asked whether it was good to be back. The Bayer Leverkusen manager came to Ireland for a summer when 14 years old to learn English, and it only fosters the sense of a figure coming full circle. There’s a personal history here, and there could well be a football history through a series of doubles. Alonso may ensure an unbeaten European campaign in Wednesday’s Europa League final, against Atalanta, to go with an unbeaten league campaign. There’s still Saturday’s DFB-Pokal final to come, and that is against second-tier side Kaiserslautern. The Basque is so close to an unprecedented unbeaten treble, and what would be one of the great football achievements.

It should be stressed he has already done something alchemic, arguably up there with Sir Alex Ferguson’s first Scottish title with Aberdeen and maybe Jose Mourinho’s Champions League with FC Porto. It is not just denying Bayern Munich the Bundesliga title for the first time since 2012, and that after the perpetual champions spent over €100m on players such as Harry Kane. It is doing it with a club that had only claimed one major trophy in their history, and been branded as perpetual losers. This wasn’t supposed to be possible in modern football. It’s not like this team has just played the percentages or strived to get there through some freak campaign, either. The invincible season speaks to the emphatic nature, the emotion of it all amplified by so many late comebacks and winners. It is vintage stuff.

This is not the first Europa League meeting between Atalanta and Bayer Leverkusen.

Back in the 2021/22 round of 16, Gian Piero Gasperini’s Italian side defeated a Werkself team coached by Gerardo Seoane. They won the first leg 3-2 at before clinching a tight contest 1-0 at the BayArena to reach the quarter-final stage.

Will Atalanta be on the winning side again tonight?