ss

Does Leverkusen have a chance to make history with a Europa League win?

It has well and truly been the year of Bayer Leverkusen. They are by far and away, the team of the 2023/2024 season and with just a few games to go before the season ends, everyone is excited to see how that story ends.

Does Leverkusen have a chance to make history with a Europa League win?
Credits - Sky Sports

With five games to spare, Xabi Alonso's men became Bundesliga champions. Surprisingly, this title win will be the first league title in the club's history and what a way to get it done. 

It has been a historical run to the League title with several records broken along the way but for Die Werkself, the best is yet to come. 

They not only have the chance to finish the League season unbeaten, but they are in with the chance of winning an invincible treble and it is no surprise Leverkusen tickets are in massive demand at the moment. They have two games of the Bundesliga left to play as well as meetings with Kaiserslautern in the DFB Pokal and Atalanta in the UEFA Europa League final. These are the hurdles that stand between them and football immorality.

Already they have broken the record for the longest unbeaten stretch in a football season with 49 consecutive games without taking a loss, but their goal will be to get to 53, with a treble in the bag. 

Their remarkable run this season has been a mixture of a young manager in Xabi Alonso who has placed himself among Europe's elite in only the first full season of his managerial career, a well-constructed team with a mixture of fabulous young players and experienced vets who have quality to go with their mileage. 

The team showed they can be brilliant to watch with the ability to be free-scoring as well as an ability to be dogged and defensively organized when under pressure. They are tactically flexible and above all else they are the most stubborn team in Europe this season. 

In the Europa League, Leverkusen's numbers and performances are also brilliant. With 31 goals, they are the tournament's top scorers. They have also conceded 10 goals and have kept the joint most clean sheets with five. Their opponents in the Europa League final, Atalanta have kept as many clean sheets as well.

Leverkusen breezed past the group stages by winning all their games, scoring 19 goals and conceding just three in that phase. The real fun began for Bayer when they got to the knockout stages as they played out a 5-4 aggregate win against Qarabag in the last 16. The second leg saw Leverkusen come from two goals down to win 3-2 with a Patrick Schik brace coming in the 93rd and 97th minute of the match.  

A relatively easy 3-1 aggregate win against West Ham United soon followed in the quarterfinals but the Semifinals would become another (somewhat) drama-charged affair between the German champions and AS Roma. 

The first leg was a nice 2-0 win away from home and most thought the tie was secure but the second leg saw their Italian opponents take a two-goal lead heading into the latter stages of the game. 

Leverkusen once again showed why they have their unbeaten record with a goal in the 82nd minute to take the lead on aggregate and another goal by Josip Stanisic seven minutes into stoppage time to ensure they did not lose on the night. 

Stanisic's late winner for Leverkusen was the club's 11th stoppage-time goal this season. It is a statistic that represents the never-say-die attitude and the determination this team has to never give up no matter what. 

This trait has taken them this far and even though they are this deep into the season, they do not look out of steam as is a common occurrence for teams that play this many games. When their opponents have run out of gas, they seem to have way more in them to close out matches and get results most dramatically. This is a weapon that almost no other team in Europe has at the moment and it is probably the thing their opponents in the Europa League final will be most afraid of.

On qualifying for the final, Xabi Alonso praised his team and claimed that his team deserved to win all titles. Most will agree with the assessment after watching all that has occurred this season.

“We showed great character today after their second goal. I looked my players in the eye afterwards and saw that they wanted more.

“We still have the chance to win three titles. And my boys deserve all three titles.”

At the end of the day, these titles are earned, not given and Leverkusen will be favourites to earn all the silverware that they are chasing after to end the season.  

Atalanta will be looking to play spoiler on the day though, as they are hoping to win their first-ever European trophy and only the second-ever silverware in their club's history. 

In the Semifinal, the Italian side put away Olympique Marseille with a comfortable 3-0 win. The tie ended with a 4-1 aggregate scoreline and Gian Piero Gasperini was delighted with the outcome.

"We are playing many games, it is not easy to always play well and in some of those matches we struggle, but tonight was a fine victory," said Gasperini.

“I already said yesterday, that when there is a whole city embracing us, the players feel that energy and that emotion. It was a special match and they played it the best way.

“I think the Final is going to be a historic occasion and for a club like ours it's truly incredible, but this bodes well for everyone.” 

Though the narrative surrounding Atalanta's run to the final may not be as universally known as Leverkusen's story, the Italian side will be trying to win for their reasons as well. 

Atalanta has shown themselves to be a team that can be dangerous on the attack due to the sheer number of options up front as well as a solid defensive team in this tournament. 

It is sure to be a heated affair come May 22nd at the Aviva stadium in Ireland. Leverkusen have got enough evidence this season to show that they can take whatever Atalanta will throw at them and also dish out some big blows of their own. Xabi Alonso's men will be ready to make history. 

Cover Credits - Sky Sports

Leave a Reply