Xabi Alonso showed his class as he passed on his congratulations to Atalanta after Bayer Leverkusen’s painful 3-0 defeat in the Europa League final, claiming the best team won on the night in Dublin.
Leverkusen, the newly crowned Bundesliga champions, entered this evening’s contest on the back of a remarkable 51-game unbeaten streak in all competitions in what is Alonso’s first full season in senior management.
But the club’s run was finally brought to an end by Gian Piero Gasperini’s Atalanta, as Ademola Lookman made history with a stunning hat-trick to steer the Serie A outfit to their first ever piece of European silverware.
Leverkusen had no answer at the Aviva Stadium and must regroup if they are to finish their incredible campaign on a high against Kaiserslautern in this weekend’s German cup final.
Alonso, who recently committed his future to Leverkusen, could not hide his disappointment as he reflected on his side’s performance in a wide-ranging post-match interview with TNT Sports shortly after the full-time whistle.
However, the iconic ex-Liverpool midfielder, speaking just moments after sharing a lovely on-field moment with Gasperini, made sure to point out just how much Atalanta ‘deserved’ to get their hands on the trophy.
Asked whether the night had panned out differently than he had imagined, Alonso replied: ‘Absolutely, for sure. We were not planning to have a bad day today but for sure we had that.
‘It was not meant to be today. We could not cope with many difficult situations that we were preparing because Atalanta, they demand so much from you, one-vs-one situations, duels.
‘But we were not getting the ball in the right positions with advantage because they do that so good and we were not able to come back.
‘So it was not meant to be, the unbeaten run has come to an end, but congratulations to Atalanta. They deserve it so nothing more to say.’
When asked whether the better team had won on the night, Alonso replied: ‘Yes, I would say so. Once they scored that first goal, that gave this game a lot of energy.
‘Probably we have tried to play too many passes in the first zone when we should have played a little bit longer.
‘But anyway, it was not about tactics. Today, individually they were better and as a team as well, so we’ll learn from that.
‘It hurts that it comes on a big day, the defeat, but we have another final on Saturday and we will try to learn from that.’
Alonso added: ‘They are very brave and they don’t mind being in one-vs-one situations. We couldn’t beat them in the last area when we had the slight chance to go one-by-one or make the run. They defended really well so we were not able to create chances.
‘It’s not just something that they are doing now, this year. I think under [Gian Piero] Gasperini they have been doing that for the last few years and they are a very special team.
‘Today was not our day. Normally, we get in better positions with our game but today we couldn’t.’
Alonso insisted the defeat did nothing to alter how ‘proud’ he was of his squad for what they had achieved across a historic campaign.
‘The result today doesn’t change one bit how proud I am of my players or what we are doing,’ he added.
‘It hurts because we wanted to lift that trophy but you can’t get everything.’
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