Djimsiti confirmed as Atalanta captain for Europa League final against Bayer Leverkusen | OneFootball

Berat Djimsiti will have the honour of leading Atalanta out for their Europa League final against the undefeated Bayer Leverkusen in Dublin on Wednesday night.

The club’s official captain, Rafael Toloi, is not expected to start against Leverkusen, as he has not featured in the Europa League since the fourth game of the group stages, while vice-captain Marten De Roon has been ruled out of Wednesday’s final through injury.

It was a cruel blow for De Roon, who suffered a suspected knee injury during the Coppa Italia final loss against Juventus last week. He had also featured in every one of Atalanta’s Europa League matches this season, apart from the last game of the group stages, when La Dea had already qualified for the knock-out rounds.

Instead, it will be the 31-year-old Albania international, Djimsiti, who will wear the armband for Atalanta on Wednesday night.

He joined coach Gian Piero Gasperini for the pre-match media duties in Dublin on Tuesday evening.

‘Great pride’ for Djimsiti

During an interview with Sky Sport Italia earlier in the day, Djimsiti explained that he does not feel too much pressure in captaining his side in a major final.

Instead, he said that it will be: “a great pride. We will miss Marten, but it will be up to us to play up to his standards. I will be captain, but there are lots of ‘captains’ in our team. We play together and we win together.”