After nine months of thrilling action all across Europe's top stadiums. The 2023/24 UEFA Europa League is reaching its conclusion, with Atalanta taking on Leverkusen in the final in Dublin. Here, we look at the road to the final between the two teams.

Atalanta 

Atalanta (ITA)

• UEFA coefficient ranking: 21
• Group stage: Group D winners
• Round of 16: 3-2agg vs Sporting CP
• Quarter-finals: 3-1agg vs Liverpool
• Semi-finals: 4-1agg vs Marseille
• Best UEFA Cup/Europa League performance: Quarterfinals (1990/91, 2021/22)

Key player: Teun Koopmeiners

Player to watch: Giorgio Scalvini

On Saturday, Atalanta advanced to the Champions League with a 2-0 victory at Lecce, which served as straightforward preparation for the club's inaugural European final.

Gianluca Scamacca and Charles De Ketelaere's goals guaranteed Atalanta a place in Europe's premier club tournament by ensuring they would finish at least fifth in Serie A.

Two rounds of games left in the season, and Atalanta, who have a game in hand, are six points clear of Roma in sixth position.

They also have the superior head-to-head record, which determines the positions of teams that have squared off twice and are level on points.

A fantastic season comes to a potentially historic conclusion on Wednesday when Gian Piero Gasperini's team plays Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League final.

Midweek, when they fell to Juventus in the Italian Cup final, Atalanta lost their first opportunity to win a major trophy since 1963.

Should they defeat German champions Leverkusen in Dublin this season, Atalanta may provide Serie A with an additional Champions League spot—but only if they also place no higher than fifth.

Before their meeting on Monday night, Atalanta trails Bologna and Juventus, third and fourth, respectively, by goal difference.

Leverkusen (GER)

• UEFA coefficient ranking: 14
• Group stage: Group H winners
• Round of 16: 5-4agg vs Qarabağ
• Quarterfinals: 3-1agg vs West Ham
• Semi-finals: 4-2agg vs Roma
• Last season: Semi-finals (L0-1 vs Roma)
• Best UEFA Cup/Europa League performance: Winners (1987/88)

Key player: Florian Wirtz

Player to watch: Jeremie Frimpong

Not only are Bayer Leverkusen poised for greatness, having been the first team to spend a whole Bundesliga season undefeated, but they also belong among the greatest teams in German history. 

With just Atalanta standing in the way of the club's first continental trophy since winning the tournament in its former iteration as the UEFA Cup in 1988, Xabi Alonso's side can become European conquerors, too. 

Though the Bundesliga champions will be favorites to win the Cup iCupublin, Leverkusen's path to the final has been far from a parade, with a thrilling last-16 match against Qarabağ almost seeing their elimination and late goals required against Roma in the semi-final. 

With Odilon Kossounou also over an injury that saw him removed in a recent Bundesliga game in Bochum and Florian Wirtz recuperating from a thigh ailment that kept him out of that one, Alonso should have a complete squad at his disposal. 

Their Bundesliga top scorer, Victor Boniface, may start on the bench, with Amine Adli favored to play as a false nine in Alonso's starting lineup. Matěj Kovář is the better cup goalkeeper and should start between the sticks.

What to look out for

Scamacca is hitting form at the right time

Last season, Gianluca Scamacca's team made it to a significant UEFA club championship final, but the striker could not fully appreciate the event. The former Sassuolo player joined English club West Ham in the summer, and he scored three goals in 16 Premier League games until a knee injury (and subsequent surgery) kept him a spectator as the Hammers defeated Fiorentina in the UEFA Europa Conference League final in Prague.

This time, it seems the 25-year-old is committed to seizing the chance. Scamacca has momentum after scoring once in the group stage and at least once against each of Atalanta's knockout phase opponents, including a double in La Dea's incredible 3-0 quarter vs Liverpool. "You make that extra run and risk that pass or shot that maybe you don't risk without confidence," he said in an interview with UEFA.com.

Leverkusen is on the hunt for a treble

It seemed like the Werkself were cursed when the valiant Leverkusen squad of 2001–2002 finished runners-up in the Bundesliga, the German Cup, and the UEFA Champions League. Still, this set has been lifted off their shoulders somehow. This season, Alonso cantered to the Bundesliga championship after being runners-up five times, and they may make an incredible season even better.

Leverkusen, the 1988 UEFA Cup winner, wanted to capture their second European championship in Dublin. Three days after the Europa League final, they can complete a trifecta when they play Kaiserslautern in the GermanCupp fCupl, should they defeat Fiorentina. Leverkusen is committed to taking one step at a time in this enormous undertaking. Midfielder Jonas Hofmann said, "Now we have to focus intensively on Atalanta," after the semi-final victory against Roma. It all comes down to winning the championship in the end. And we still aren't finished."

A tale of two coaches

Xabi Alonso, a two-time EURO and one-time World Cup winner with Spain, was a Champions League champion with Liverpool and Real Madrid and has become one of the best coaching prospects. In his first senior position, Leverkusen, he surpassed all expectations in his second season after leading his team from the relegation zone to a top-six finish in his first. "I feel right here right now to grow as a coach," the 42-year-old remarked recently.

Gian Piero Gasperini's career has revolved around knowing where he belongs ever since he joined Atalanta in 2016 with his fluid, ultra-attacking approach. Although Gasperini's team has been a fixture in Europe and twice won Coach of the Season in Italy, he has nothing more concrete to demonstrate his genius. He hasn't guided a team to a title at 66. "After Atalanta defeated Liverpool in the quarterfquarterfinalse about winning something, but the prize also is seeing the unity of these lads," he remarked. Observing such players hoist a prize as well? That would be another matter.

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