It will be Atalanta and Bayer Leverkusen who will be contesting the UEFA Europa League final in Dublin later this month.
Both teams had thrilling semi finals but the biggest achievment as arguably by Atalanta who defeated Marseille by three goals to nil in Bergamo to sail through 4-1 on aggregate.
Goals from Ademola Lookman, Matteo Ruggeri and El Bilal Toure sealed a 4-1 aggregate win against Marseille to take Atalanta into their first European final.
Atalanta produced a superb performance in front of their home fans to reach a maiden UEFA final in style.
The Serie A side had already hit the post through Charles De Ketelaere and the crossbar through Gianluca Scamacca when Lookman weaved inside and fired in the opener via a deflection.
Ruggeri smashed in a wonderful second early in the second half as the crowd started dreaming of Dublin – where they will face Bayer Leverkusen on 22 May – before substitute El Bilal Toure ran through to curl a fine third late on.
On the other hand, Bayer Leverkusen had to sweat to eliminate Roma although they had won the first leg 2-0 at the Stadio Olimpico. It was only an own goal five minutes from time which saw the Bundesliga champions through with the equaliser coming deep in stoppage time.
The newly-crowned German champions struck two late goals to book a UEFA Europa League final date with Atalanta and preserve their unbeaten run in 2023/24 after a valiant Roma effort.
Leverkusen mounted a late comeback to stretch their unbeaten run to 49 games and seal a place in their first European final in 22 years, a 2-2 draw earning a 4-2 aggregate victory over Roma in their UEFA Europa League semi-final second leg. They will face another Italian side, Atalanta, in the decider in Dublin on 22 May.
