Former Atalanta hero Papu Gomez has stated his belief about the Europa League final, suggesting that Bayer Leverkusen can be beaten by La Dea later today.

Atalanta will be playing in their first ever European final earlier today and it is their second shot at silverware, having already lost to Juventus in the Coppa Italia final some days ago. Leverkusen have not lost even once this season and that proves to be a bigger challenge for La Dea.

Gomez, who was at Atalanta during their ventures in the Champions League, recently spoke to La Gazzetta dello Sport about the final later today and he stated that La Dea can beat the Invincibles Leverkusen.

He said: “My Argentina arrived at the World Cup unbeaten in 36 games and we lost the first match. Sooner or later they will lose. Let’s hope it happens in this final.” 

Gomez also stated that he didn’t expect Atalanta to be in the Europa League final but the win at Anfield was the definite turning point.

“Honestly not, but from the quarter-finals onwards you play for it and the spark was winning at Anfield. ‘Now let’s try’, they said to each other: they have always played without fear, La Dea doesn’t know how to be different, it’s her DNA.” 

Atalanta have not won silverware since 2011, when they had won the Serie B title to earn promotion from the top-flight. Winning today would be a huge achievement for them.

Kaustubh Pandey I GIFN