Alonso eyeing more history with Leverkusen
Xabi Alonso is hopeful that his Bayer Leverkusen side can make more history in the Europa League final against Atalanta.
Leverkusen became the first side in Bundesliga history to go unbeaten in a single season on its way to the top-flight title, and across all competitions, it has not lost any of its last 51 matches.
Now, it has the opportunity to complete an unbeaten treble if it can get past Atalanta before taking on Kaiserslautern in the DFB-Pokal.
Only three sides have previously won the competition without losing a game – Chelsea in 2018-2019, Villarreal in 2020-2021 and Eintracht Frankfurt in 2021-2022, with Leverkusen looking to be added to that list.
Alonso is taking charge of his first European final as a manager and highlights the ambition the club has to do something significant.
"It would mean a lot, a lot to me [to win a European trophy]," he told UEFA. "To be able to share it with the people from the club, with the fans.
"You see what it meant when we won the Bundesliga. To be able to win a European title after so many years since we won [the UEFA Cup in 1988] would be historic, and we want to do that, to have a historic season.
"It would be something written in golden letters, not only in the history of our club but probably all European football. I hope we can."
Like his counterpart, Atalanta manager Gian Piero Gasperini is also taking charge of a European final for the first time in his career.
The Italian side clinched a top-five finish in Serie A with its win over Lecce and is looking to win its first major trophy in 61 years.
Looking back on the season, Gasperini said he is proud of the work his side have done to make it through to the club's first European final.
"It feels good," Gasperini said. "It's a great achievement and source of satisfaction, achieved with a really good season from this whole team.
"Is it the highest point of my career? Yes, in terms of accomplishment and prestige, absolutely. In terms of gratification, fortunately, I've had quite a few, although perhaps not on the same level.
"This team always wanted it. Sometimes, you get teams who are good technically but lacking in determination and hunger.
"From the start, from the group stage, since we played in Lisbon, in a group where we were not the favourites – Sporting [CP] were the favourites – we played great matches against strong opponents. Of course, winning at Anfield boosted our confidence even more."
