Bayer Leverkusen fell to a crippling 3-0 defeat at the hands of Atalanta in the UEFA Europa League Final in Dublin on Wednesday. The German Champions were attempting to become the first European side to complete an invincible treble, after going 51 games unbeaten.
However, the hopes of Xabi Alonso and his side collapsed as an Ademola Lookman hat-trick ensured that the silverware would be heading to Bergamo for the first time.
Jeremie Frimpong has been key in Leverkusen’s remarkable campaign which has seen them win the Bundesliga, and reach the Europa League final, with one more piece of domestic silverware up for grabs.
The Dutch full-back – who was gracious in defeat – had a heap of praise for Lookman, who became the first player to score a hat trick in a Europa League final.
“He scored three amazing goals, he played really well. He’s a great player, well done to him and the team, they deserved it.”
Embed from Getty ImagesThe Manchester City academy product admitted that his side failed to create chances in their typical, fast and threatening fashion, telling FromTheSpot “we knew it was going to be a hard game, they were in the final for a reason. They’ve had a good run in the Europa League, of course, we knew it was going to be a difficult game.”
“I think they created a lot of chances, they defended really well. We couldn’t really create many chances because of how they defended. They were well prepared and the better team.”
“We didn’t play our game, how we normally create chances. It wasn’t there today. And of course, if we don’t create chances then our opponents will finish their chances and that’s what they did tonight.”
However, the defender tried to keep his spirits up, looking ahead to this weekend’s DFB-Pokal final against FC Kaiserslautern. Victory over the Red Devils would see Leverkusen complete an unbeaten domestic double.
“We are all disappointed. I think to lose a final 3-0 is very very bad, it hurts a lot. But, we’ve got another final to play. So of course, we’ve got to be sad today but tomorrow we’ve got to fix our faces because there’s another trophy to play for. I think we have to [dust ourselves down]. It’s a part of the game, you win some, you lose some.”
“We’ve just got to play, everyone knows that we’ve got another final, we can’t be sulking.”