Who Will be the Key Players in the Europa League Final?
by Steve Ashfield | by Yunchu Li
Exciting Europa Final Expected
We're just weeks away from Euro 2024 but first we have three European club finals to play. Wednesday May 22 sees the Europa League final take place at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Bayer Leverkusen look to continue their dominant season with a first European trophy in 36 years. They take on Atalanta who are in their first ever European final.
Both clubs have already qualified for next season's Champions League. This promises to be an exciting final but who are likely to be the key players to look out for? Remember to read our Europa League final prediction: Atalanta vs Bayer Leverkusen.
Second Chance for Scamacca
It's always so frustrating when a player sees his club qualify for a European final but can't play because of injury. That happened to Gianluca Scamacca a couple of seasons ago. He was playing for West Ham United at the time but injury meant he missed their Europa Conference League final. Two years later, he's now at Atalanta but this time he's injury free and looking forward to this Europa League final.
He's scored six goals for Atalanta in this year's competition. He'd certainly make the headlines if becoming the top scorer in the Europa League. That's currently held by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang with ten goals.
Scamacca has scored some vital goals for his club this season. In the last 16 of this competition, he scored Atalanta's only goal in the 1-1 away first leg draw at Sporting after they'd conceded an early goal. He then got the winner in the second leg to take the Serie A side into the quarter-finals. Don't forget to check out the Europa League odds on our site.
That round saw them take on the favorites Liverpool and they had one of their best results in European football. Atalanta again played the first leg away from home and a trip to Anfield is never an easy task. However, it was for Atalanta as they won 3-0 and Scamacca scored the first two of them. He was on target again in the semi-finals, again scoring an away goal, this time in Marseille.
Last week saw Atalanta lose to Juventus in the Coppa Italia final. They bounced back with a 2-0 win at Lecce with Scamacca on target again. They are fifth in Serie A. With an extra place for Italian clubs in next season's Champions League, they have qualified. Now they hope Scamacca can continue his good form and take them to Europa League glory. He's 3.91 at Vbet to score in this match.
Also look out for Ademola Lookman who has scored vital goals for Atalanta in the last two rounds and is 4.33 at bet365 to score on Wednesday.
Briilliant First Season for Boniface
It's already been an incredible season for Bayer Leverkusen. They've ended the dominance of Bayern Munich in the German Bundesliga, play in this final on Wednesday and three days later take on Kaiserslautern in the German Cup final. All achieved without losing a single match this season.
Viktor Boniface has certainly chosen the right time to join the club. He arrived at Leverkusen last July from Union Saint-Gilloise and has had a fantastic first season. Last term wasn't too bad either as he finished joint top scorer in last season's Europa League with Marcus Rashford.
Boniface missed some time due to injury (which caused him to miss the Africa Cup of Nations) but still ended the German Bundesliga as their top scorer with 14 goals. He's played a big part in Leverkusen making it to this Europa League final. Unibet give odds of 2.63 he'll score in this game.
In the group stages, they were scoring goals for fun with 19 scored and only three conceded. The Nigerian striker (who made his international debut last September) scored in their 4-0 home win over Molde in their opening group fixture. He enjoyed playing against Qarabag, scoring both home and away.
The away goal was an important one as his penalty in the 94th minute was the only goal of the match, He also scored against Hacken, making it four goals in the group stages. Another goal was scored in the first leg of their quarter-final against West Ham United. Another late goal, this time in the 91st minute.
Keep an eye out too for Patrick Schick who is 2.7 at William Hill to score in this final. He's also scored five goals in this season's Europa League. He played a big part in the German side making it to the quarter-finals. Schick scored a 92nd minute equalizer at Qarabag in the first leg. On home soil, Leverkusen were 4-3 down on aggregate going into the 93rd minute but then the Austrian striker scored and got the winner five minutes later. You can follow all the action on our Europa League livescore with updated statistics and live text commentary.
Odds to lift the Europa League trophy
- Bayer Leverkusen, odds of 1.4
- Atalanta, odds of 3.00
odds from bet365
