Atalanta vs. Bayer Leverkusen: How to watch Europa League final, TV channel, live stream

All eyes will be on Leverkusen, which is two wins away from an undefeated season and a treble

Atalanta and Bayer Leverkusen will face off on Wednesday in the Europa League final.

All eyes will be on Leverkusen, which is two wins away from an undefeated season and a treble.

Xabi Alonso has already led his side to a league title, as Leverkusen became the first team to go through an entire Bundesliga season undefeated.

Should Leverkusen get past Atalanta in Dublin, it would cap off an undefeated treble with a win over Kaiserslautern in the DFB-Pokal final on Saturday.

[afflinkbutton text=”Watch the Europa League on Paramount Plus” link=”https://paramountplus.qflm.net/217Nxg”]

For Atalanta, a win over Leverkusen would secure only the second trophy in the club’s history outside of Serie B titles. Other than championships in the Italian second-tier, the Bergamo club’s only other trophy is the 1962–63 Coppa Italia.

Atalanta could not add to that haul last week when it fell to Juventus in the Coppa Italia final. Gian Piero Gasperini’s side will be desperate to avoid ending an outstanding season with back-to-back defeats in a final.

Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the match.

Atalanta vs. Bayer Leverkusen (Europa League final)

  • When: Wednesday, May 22
  • Where: Aviva Stadium (Dublin, Ireland)
  • Time: 3 p..m. ET
  • Channel/streaming: CBS Sports Network, Univision, TUDN, Paramount+ (WATCH NOW)

[lawrence-related id=68163,29607,29823]

We occasionally recommend interesting products and services. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. Pro Soccer Wire operates independently, though, and this doesn’t influence our coverage.

Leverkusen sets record with unbeaten run, advances to Europa League final

Leverkusen’s ability to score stoppage-time goals to stay unbeaten is beyond belief

Leverkusen may have qualified for a European final on Thursday, but the celebrations may well have been about something no other UEFA club has ever done.

A 2-2 second-leg draw secured a 4-2 aggregate win over Roma in the Europa League semifinals, sending the Bundesliga champions to the tournament’s final.

However, in a more remarkable achievement, Leverkusen has now gone 49 straight competitive games without defeat, which is a record for any UEFA club since the advent of European continental competition. Benfica’s 48-game run spanning games played from 1963-65 was the previous gold standard.

Leverkusen’s last defeat came nearly a full year ago, with the club concluding its previous Bundesliga campaign with a 3-0 loss at Bochum on May 27, 2023.

Since then, Xabi Alonso’s side has gotten a win or draw in every single one of its 49 competitive fixtures across the Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal, and the Europa League in the 2023-24 season.

Somehow, this run includes a staggering 17 goals in stoppage time, 12 of which changed losses into draws or draws into wins.

That included an equalizer against Roma. Despite seeing the Serie A side pushing to force extra time with one last goal, Leverkusen still pushed on in pursuit of history.

Seven minutes into second-half stoppage time, late substitute Josip Stanišić sprinted up the right flank. Granit Xhaka could have sent him to the corner to protect the lead, but the Swiss midfielder wanted that 49th game without a loss.

Xhaka’s pass guided Stanišić into the area, where he cut inside of the scrambling Roma defense before picking out the bottom corner, beating Mile Svilar and securing yet another dramatic late draw for Leverkusen.

In a post-match interview broadcast by CBS Sports Network, Xhaka said that Leverkusen took pride in pursuing the record rather than merely hanging on for a place in a continental final.

“Of course!” declared Xhaka when asked about pursuing a 49th game without a loss. “You see the desire from the team. Even after 2-1, in the 90 minutes, in extra time, we didn’t want to slow down the game. We wanted to score the second goal to be unbeaten [for] 49 games now, and we are proud about it.”

Leverkusen will face Atalanta on May 22 at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium. That will be the club’s third-ever European final, and its first since the 2001-02 Champions League.

[lawrence-related id=58293,44357,29607]

AC Milan’s trophy hopes dashed as Roma claims Europa League semifinal place

Milan had high hopes for this season, but will end it without even a final after a frustrating loss to Roma

Just like that, AC Milan’s entire season boils down to qualifying for the Champions League.

The Rossoneri’s last chance at silverware ended in frustration on Thursday, as a 2-1 loss at Roma completed a 3-1 aggregate defeat at the hands of the club’s Serie A rivals.

Even an early Zeki Çelik red card wasn’t enough for Milan, who couldn’t solve Daniele De Rossi’s side after falling behind in the game’s opening stages.

“Roma deserved it. They put more quality on the pitch than us,” a downbeat Milan boss Stefano Pioli said in a post-match interview with RAI Sport. “I expected the team to play better and win. I’m not satisfied with tonight’s effort.”

The loss means that Milan — who trail city rivals Inter by a whopping 14 points in Serie A — has little to play for beyond sealing a place in next year’s Champions League.

Atalanta (who also advanced to the Europa League semifinals on Wednesday with a 3-1 aggregate win over Liverpool) knocked Pioli’s club out of the Coppa Italia back in January, and with Roma advancing at the Stadio Olimpico, an all-Italy final may still await.

For Milan, however, this will go down as a strange, disappointing day at the office. Roma’s 1-0 win at the San Siro was already a difficult scoreline to overturn, and the Rossoneri did seemingly everything possible to make the situation worse in the second leg’s early minutes.

Just 12 minutes in, Milan stood by passively as Lorenzo Pellegrini’s curler smacked off the post, then collectively continued to watch as Gianluca Mancini waltzed in to steer the rebound home.

Roma dropped off, but maintained a direct threat that Milan would rue just 10 minutes later. Romelu Lukaku couldn’t make the initial attack count, but again the second phase favored Roma: the loose ball fell to Paulo Dybala for a ruthless finish.

Still, Milan got a lifeline, with Çelik getting a 31st-minute red card after a wild swipe took Rafael Leão out from behind.

Meanwhile, the game descended into odd territory. The rain in Rome turned to sleet, while the teams combined to make three substitutions before halftime. Lukaku left with an injury in the 28th minute, while both clubs made tactical changes due to the red card, the scoreline, and the nature of cup soccer.

Pioli kept throwing numbers at Milan’s problems, and two more halftime substitutions saw a move to a 4-1-3-2 formation with Christian Pulisic playing underneath two out-and-out strikers, while his U.S. men’s national teammate Yunus Musah was stationed at right back.

The problem for Milan? None of this particularly worked, and despite attempting 20 shots, the Rossoneri were unable to truly worry Roma goalkeeper Mile Svilar.

Only once Milan seemed to have accept defeat did the breakthrough come, though Matteo Gabbia’s 85th minute goal was nothing but a consolation.

Milan’s work this season isn’t over, with the next week including games against Inter and Juventus. However, with Serie A virtually certain to go to the blue half of the city and Milan nearly mathematically sure of a spot in next season’s Champions League, April and May will be as much about sorting out where a promising season went wrong as it is anything else.

[lawrence-related id=59620,58471,55956]

AC Milan draws Serie A rival Roma in Europa League quarterfinal

The Rossoneri will face a familiar foe in the Europa League last eight.

AC Milan will face a familiar foe in the Europa League quarterfinal.

The Rossoneri were paired with Serie A rival Roma in Friday’s draw, with both sides chasing their only chance at silverware this season.

Milan reached the last eight with a comprehensive 7-3 aggregate win over Slavia Prague, as Christian Pulisic scored in both legs of the tie. Roma, meanwhile, defeated Brighton 4-1 on aggregate in their last-16 matchup.

Milan will host the first leg on April 11 at San Siro, with the second leg taking place on April 18 in the Italian capital.

Roma and Milan have met once this season, with the Rossoneri winning 2-1 in Rome in a Serie A match back in September.

The winner of Milan’s tie with Roma will face either Bayer Leverkusen or West Ham in the semifinal.

The other semifinal will see the winner of Liverpool vs. Atalanta take on the winner of Benfica vs. Marseille.

2023-24 Europa League quarterfinal draw

AC Milan vs. Roma
Liverpool vs. Atalanta
Bayer Leverkusen vs. West Ham
Benfica vs. Marseille

[lawrence-related id=53579,51884,51680]

KI makes history as first Faroese club to ever qualify for European competition

European soccer is coming to the Faroe Islands, pop. 54,000

Weeks before big-time European soccer is back underway, tiny KÍ is out here making history.

The Faroe Islands will have a club in the group stage of a European competition for the first time ever after KÍ (that’s Klaksvíkar Ítróttarfelag, as everyone surely knows) overcame Swedish champions BK Häcken in the second qualifying round for the 2023-24 Champions League.

Now within four games of qualifying for the Champions League proper, KÍ will face a third-round clash with Molde. They will host the Norwegian champions at their 2,500-capacity home Við Djúpumýrar on August 8 or 9, with the second leg coming on August 15.

KÍ is not supposed to be here. The Faroe Islands, with a population of 54,000, is not expected to see any clubs move beyond the first hurdle in any UEFA competition. Generally, that means Faroese clubs are done with their continental obligations in July, when most Champions League clubs aren’t even done with their summer break.

The closest any Faroese club has ever gone to qualifying for a European competition proper came in 2020-21, when on the brink of a spot in the Europa League group stage, KÍ fell 3-1 in a one-game playoff against Irish side Dundalk.

On Wednesday, though, KÍ was ready to take the next step. After a 0-0 first leg draw at home in Klaksvik, the pluckiest of underdogs came back twice at the Bravida Arena, scoring this incredibly awkward goal to equalize in extra time and force a penalty kick tiebreaker that they won 4-3.

KÍ is still a long way from the Champions League, but thanks to the extremely convoluted vagaries of UEFA’s myriad qualifying paths, the club from Klaksvik is already sure of a place in true European competition.

Teams that make it to the third qualifying round for the Champions League face two outcomes. Winners go through to the play-off round, which is the last step before being in the Champions League. Losers are sent to the Europa League’s play-off round, where bigger names like Ajax, Union Saint-Gilloise, and Aberdeen await. Victory there means a spot in the Europa League’s group stage, while defeat ends with a spot in the Conference League’s group stage.

KÍ even getting this far is massively unlikely. The first qualifying round draw set the Faroese champions up against Ferencváros of Hungary, by far the most difficult draw possible based on current UEFA club coefficients.

However, after a scoreless draw at home in the first leg, KÍ produced a massive upset, winning 3-0 in front of 18,187 fans (that is, a hair over one-third of the entire population of the Faroe Islands) in Budapest.

Now, Molde — a club that KÍ manager Magne Hoseth and assistant Daniel Berg Hestad combined to suit up for over 900 times — awaits. Needless to say, back in Klaksvik, they’re hyped.

[lawrence-related id=20825,15796,5676]

Europa League final referee, family abused by Roma fans at airport

Ugly scenes at the airport as Anthony Taylor attempted to leave Budapest

A Roma fan was arrested by Hungarian police after fans threatened Europa League final referee Anthony Taylor and his family at Budapest’s airport on Thursday.

The arrest comes one day after Roma fans spotted Taylor and his family about to board a flight home, with many loudly chanting at and mobbing the group. Security staff intervened, but not before video showed drinks and a chair being thrown in Taylor’s direction.

A statement from Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport and local police published by The Mirror said that “Anthony Taylor, the referee of the UEFA Europa League final, was involved in an incident at Ferenc Liszt International (Budapest) Airport yesterday evening. Fans of the losing Roma team recognized the referee in the food court of the airport, where he was waiting for his flight to depart,” before later adding that “the Italian citizen involved in the incident was apprehended by the police and criminal proceedings have been initiated on charges of affray.”

Fans react after Mourinho rage

Taylor was the referee for a contentious Europa League final that ended with Roma falling on penalty kicks to Sevilla. The match featured a record 14 yellow cards, and Roma manager Jose Mourinho focused most of his post-game remarks on criticizing Taylor, strongly implying a bias against the Roman side.

Mourinho then followed up his press conference tirade by waiting in the team bus parking lot to call Taylor a “f—–g crook” with enough vigor that a staffer was seen restraining him. Mourinho was, predictably, charged by UEFA for the whole episode.

While it’s easy to write that off as Mourinho being Mourinho — over the last few months alone, he’s called one of his own players a traitor, was sent off for yelling at referees in a loss to Cremonese, jeered children, and wore a wire while coaching — there’s a big difference between harsh words in a press conference or from the touchline compared to physically waiting around to accost a referee in a parking lot.

While there are failures of security involved in sending a referee of a big match to a public food court among fans of the defeated team, the general air around how the game was officiated could have been tamped down by Mourinho and others. Taking the step from disagreement with calls to accusations of outright bias creates an atmosphere where referees are pressured, intimidated, or outright put in danger.

[lawrence-related id=20935,18944,14765]

Mourinho waits in parking lot to tell referee he’s a ‘f—–g disgrace’

The Roma manager didn’t think he got enough face time with Anthony Taylor during the game

José Mourinho was not a fan of referee Anthony Taylor’s performance in the Europa League final on Wednesday.

The Roma manager said so in his post-game press conference after his side fell on penalties to Sevilla following a 1-1 draw through 120 minutes at the Puskás Aréna in Budapest.

But that wasn’t enough for the Portuguese manager. Mourinho also wanted to again tell Taylor to his face how displeased he was. So he waited outside the Roma team bus to find the referee and tell him that his performance was a “f—–g disgrace” and that the Englishman and his fellow referees were “f—–g crooks.”

Mourinho goes off in press conference

Prior to the parking lot confrontation, Mourinho told the media exactly how he felt about Taylor and his crew.

“The referee seemed like he was Spanish,” Mourinho said. “The result was not fair, and there are a lot of instances to reexamine.”

Some of those instances included Taylor not giving Roma a penalty kick in the second half after an alleged handball, as well as the referee not sending Erik Lamela off for a second yellow card.

“This is a European final, and with this kind of refereeing, it is hard to accept. If we talk about refereeing situations, it’s not two or three: it is many, quite apart from the big decisions. Those of us who have been in football a long time realize immediately what is going on,” Mourinho said.

“[Lorenzo] Pellegrini falls in box and given a yellow card; [Lucas] Ocampos did exactly the same thing and he doesn’t get one. It’s a scandal. VAR called the referee and shames Ocampos, but there’s no card given.

“Lamela — who, by the way, scored one of the penalties — deserved a second yellow but didn’t get it. And let’s not even talk about the big decisions. That’s just the small details.”

Taylor did award 14 yellow cards in the match, a new record for a Europa League final.

[lawrence-related id=20825,20512,18944]

No one loves anything like Sevilla loves the Europa League

Sevilla did what they do, winning the Europa League for a seventh time

Sevilla, as is seemingly always the case, won the Europa League, triumphing in a penalty kick shootout after a 1-1 extra time draw with Roma.

It’s Sevilla’s seventh Europa League title, by far the most of any club (even if you include winners from the tournament’s former life as the UEFA Cup). Remarkably, all of those triumphs have come since 2006, and represent over half of the club’s major trophies.

It also makes clear which unusual phenomenon, between Sevilla’s invincibility in the Europa League and Jose Mourinho’s perfect record in European finals, is more powerful. Mourinho had won all five of his previous finals, winning in this competition, the Champions League, and even the Europa Conference League. Until Wednesday, Mourinho’s sides hadn’t even given up a goal in a final since the 2002-03 UEFA Cup.

However, Sevilla’s astounding history in the Europa League continued after an own goal got the Spanish side level in a dour, attritional final. Sevilla survived a Chris Smalling header that clipped the bar in the 11th minute of stoppage time in extra time, before showing more nerve in a penalty kick tiebreaker.

Roma — who have been less than stellar from the spot during the 2022-23 season — had to watch Sevilla go four-for-four in the shootout, while Gianluca Mancini and Roger Ibañez saw their shots saved by Yassine Bounou.

The reactions, predictably, were over the top.

Ten Hag beside himself after Manchester United’s Europa League debacle

“It’s clear: We make such mistakes, it’s very difficult to win a football game”

Erik ten Hag could barely constrain his frustration after Manchester United fumbled their way out of the Europa League.

An error-strewn performance saw ten Hag’s side concede two calamitous goals on turnovers, as well as a soft set piece goal, en route to a 3-0 second leg loss at the Estadio Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán. Sevilla, as a result, is through to the Europa Leagues semifinals on a 5-2 aggregate win after having fallen behind 2-0 in the first leg.

This same opponent has ended Man Utd’s European dreams three times in the last six seasons, with this victory joining similar triumphs in the 2017-18 Champions League round of 16 and the 2019-20 Europa League semifinals.

Speaking to BT Sport after the match, ten Hag let out a sign before saying that he felt like the cause of their downfall was obvious. “It’s clear,” said ten Hag. “We make such mistakes, it’s very difficult to win a football game.”

Brushing off the chance to use the raucous atmosphere as an excuse, ten Hag asserted that a loud opposing fan base isn’t an explanation for his side’s meltdown. “[I] expect that we can deal with it. So I won’t say that’s an explanation for it. We have to do better. That is the demand.”

The Red Devils fell behind in the eighth minute as David de Gea’s iffy pass to Harry Maguire was made much worse by the England center back. Maguire’s attempt to spray the ball wide thumped into Érik Lamela, and Youssef En-Nesyri immediately pounced to side-foot past de Gea.

“You have seen what I have seen,” seethed ten Hag when asked about the shaky start. “We were not composed. We were not calm. Once you beat [Sevilla’s] press, huge spaces on the pitch, but we didn’t do it at the start, and it was so obvious how to do it.”

The poor first half could have been worse, with VAR spotting that Marcos Acuña was narrowly offside before sending in a cross that eventually ended with Lucas Ocampos firing past de Gea. Again, it was a play that started with careless play: Casemiro’s pass out to Aaron Wan-Bissaka was misplaced badly enough that Acuña could make an interception deep in Man Utd’s half.

For ten Hag, Man Utd’s mistakes were compounded by being out-fought by Sevilla.

“Bad decisions, and then also, we lose the battles. They had more passion and more desire, more willingness,” said ten Hag. “So then, it’s difficult to win big football games.”

That was likely on ten Hag’s mind when thinking of the second goal, as Loïc Badé simply beat Casemiro to a corner, using his shoulder to guide the ball over de Gea, off the bar, and just over the line.

Summing up a bumbling display by just about everyone in red on the night, de Gea completely mis-controlled a hopeless long ball, turning an easy situation into a brace for En-Nesyri. Any chance of a Man Utd comeback was completely dead and buried.

Man Utd were without several key players, with Raphaël Varane and Lisandro Martínez both suffering injuries in the first leg and Bruno Fernandes suspended. Maguire and Victor Lindelöf stepped in as the center back duo, while Marcel Sabitzer replaced the influential Portuguese playmaker.

Still, ten Hag refused to point in the direction of his absent starters, reiterating that the team on the field just didn’t deliver.

“It’s about the players who are on the pitch. They have to perform,” stated ten Hag. “I believe in them, I trust them and then they have to show. But today, we were not good enough.

“We showed so many occasions [with] good performance and good things, but tonight — and also we had some occasions [like this] — we were not ready for the game. And it can’t be when you are on this level, when you’re playing for Manchester United. You have to be ready for every game. This is a great opportunity. This is a great occasion, a quarterfinal in Europe, to win something, and then you give it away. So, we have to blame ourselves.”

Watch ten Hag go off after Man United’s poor showing

[lawrence-related id=14984,14581,12135]

Dutch federation to abandon matches over fan trouble after Klaassen struck by lighter

It’s been an ugly year in the stands for Dutch soccer

The KNVB has had it with unruly supporters.

The Dutch soccer federation had to face down yet another example of terrible fan behavior after Davy Klaassen was left bleeding after being hit by a lighter thrown by a Feyenoord supporter in Ajax’s 2-1 KNVB Cup semifinal win on Wednesday. Klaassen initially tried to play on after the incident, but eventually asked for a substitution.

The BBC reported that Dutch police had arrested a man in connection to the incident, along with 21 other fans who attended a match that had already been marred by anti-Semitic chants and smoke bombs that delayed kickoff at De Kuip.

For the federation, this latest incident was apparently a red line. The KNVB issued a statement on Thursday announcing new guidelines for referees to deal with crowd trouble at Dutch matches. In essence, the guidelines will make it much more likely that referees abandon matches should conditions become unsafe.

“With these steps, potential perpetrators will hopefully no longer dream of attacking the main players on the field,” read the KNVB statement. “We’re done with that.”

The new regulations specifically address objects being thrown on the field, and supporters entering the field. For objects, whether they’re as dangerous as the lighter that hit Klaassen or not, the KNVB says referees must stop play and direct the teams off the pitch for a spell.

If play resumes and more objects are thrown onto the field, referees are to abandon the game immediately. That’s also what they’re to do if an object strikes a player, even if it’s the first object thrown from the stands.

With supporters entering the field, the rules are the same. One fan coming onto the pitch means stopping the game temporarily, while a second means abandoning the match. If, as happened when a PSV fan tried to punch Sevilla’s Marko Dmitrović in the Europa League, a supporter attempts to attack a player, the match will be abandoned on the spot.

KNVB not alone in taking action

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte decried the Klaassen incident as “intolerable,” with a government investigation apparently being considered. For their part, Feyenoord said they will close the section of De Kuip that the lighter was thrown from for their Europa League quarterfinal against Roma on April 13.

The situation over that match was already tense. Per Reuters, Italian authorities had banned Dutch fans from attending the second leg at the Stadio Olimpico over damage done to the historic Fontana della Barcaccia when Feyenoord last faced Roma back in 2015. UEFA issued a corresponding edict to ban Italian fans from attending the first leg at De Kuip.

[lawrence-related id=14498,15191,15012]