Lookman scores hat-trick as Atalanta stun Leverkusen to win Europa League title
Ademola Lookman scored an exceptional hat-trick as Atalanta put an end to Bayer Leverkusen's 51-game unbeaten run to win the UEFA Europa League title.
Ademola Lookman scored an exceptional hat-trick as Atalanta put an end to Bayer Leverkusen's 51-game unbeaten run to win the UEFA Europa League title.
Robin Knoche's late winner secured Bundesliga leaders Union Berlin a vital 1-0 victory over Sweden's Malmo FF in UEFA Europa League Group D on Thursday.
Last season's Champions League winners face Eintracht Frankfurt, who beat Glasgow Rangers on penalties to win last season's Europa League, with the Spanish side the clear favorites to lift the title.
Players, coaches, officials and fans hardly got any sleep as celebrations continued until the morning followed by further parties back in Frankfurt. Over 100,000 fans welcomed their heroes in the city centre despite stormy weather and heavy rain.
Rangers' Aaron Ramsey, who had been brought on specially for the shootout, missed the seventh penalty, and Frankfurt's Rafael Santos Borre drilled the last penalty into the corner to decide the title.
Eintracht Frankfurt reached their first European final for 42 years after a 1-0 home win on Thursday over 10-man West Ham United sealed a 3-1 aggregate victory in their UEFA Europa League semi-final.
Having scored two goals in Barcelona's famous Camp Nou, taking the German side to a stunning victory in the Europa League's quarter-final, the winger copied the celebration move of nobody less than the Catalonians' all-time icon Lionel Messi.
Both clubs are attempting to reach what would be their biggest match in decades Frankfurt's last final came in 1980, when it won the Europa League's predecessor, the UEFA Cup, and West Ham's last game of that calibre was the 1976 Cup Winner's Cup final.
After four years of playing for Paris Saint-Germain, every trip to the French capital feels like coming home for the 31-year-old Eintracht Frankfurt goalkeeper.
Silva stepped up but couldn't beat goalkeeper Juan Musso, who blocked the penalty and Willi Orban's rebound from very close range in quick succession with 56 minutes gone.
