Football Italia
·22 May 2024
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·22 May 2024
Atalanta start Gianluca Scamacca, Charles De Ketelaere, Ademola Lookman and Teun Koopmeiners together in the Europa League Final, as Bayer Leverkusen use Florian Wirtz and Amine Adli upfront.
It kicks off at the Dublin Arena at 20.00 UK time (19.00 GMT).
La Dea are in their first ever UEFA Final, having already lost the Coppa Italia Final 1-0 to Juventus a week ago.
Scamacca was suspended for that game, but returns here with De Ketelaere and Lookman, dropping Koopmeiners into a deeper role, while Sead Kolasinac is only fit for the bench.
Marten de Roon and Emil Holm are out of action, with Rafael Toloi not fully fit either.
Bayer Leverkusen already won their first ever Bundesliga, are in the Final of the German Cup against Kaiserslautern on May 25 and are hoping to make it a perfect unbeaten Treble this season.
They have played 51 competitive matches this term without defeat, a new European club record, and much of that was down to late goals.
It was in evidence during the comeback from 2-0 down to hold Roma 2-2 in the semi-final second leg.
As in those games with Roma, Leverkusen opt to leave Victor Boniface and Patrik Schick on the bench, preferring a False 9 approach with Wirtz and Amine Adli.
Swiss veteran Granit Xhaka pulls the midfield strings and Jeremie Frimpong’s pace is a danger down the right.
These teams met in the 2021-22 Europa League Round of 16, with Atalanta winning 3-2 at home and 1-0 away.
Atalanta: Musso; Djimsiti, Hien, Kolasinac; Zappacosta, Ederson, Koopmeiners, Ruggeri; De Ketelaere, Scamacca, Lookman
Atalanta bench: Carnesecchi, Rossi, Toloi, Holm, Pasalic, Toure, De Roon, Bakker, Adopo, Hateboer, Scalvini, Miranchuk
Bayer Leverkusen: Kovar; Stanisic, Tah, Tapsoba; Frimpong, Xhaka, Palacios, Hincapie; Wirtz, Adli, Grimaldo
Bayer Leverkusen bench: Hradecky, Lomb, Kossounou, Hofmann, Andrich, Borja Iglesias, Arthur, Schick, Tella, Boniface, Hlozek, Puerta
Ref: Kovacs (ROU)