Ademola Lookman-inspired Atalanta end Bayer Leverkusen's remarkable run to win Europa League

When the annals of Atalanta history are written, Dublin will hold a special place in the hearts of their followers after Ademola Lookman's hat-trick saw them beat a previously unbeatable Bayer Leverkusen and clinch the Europa League to end a 61-year wait for a major trophy.

Gian Piero Gasperini’s side came to Irish shores off the back of losing the Coppa Italia final to Juventus, their fifth loss in a decider since their one and only trophy win back in 1963.

But with 26-year-old Lookman, whose career in the Premier League had never taken off during loan spells with Fulham, Everton and Leicester, playing the gladiatorial role for the Italian side, it was his cool-headed finishing which delivered a second ever major honour back to the northern city of Bergamo.

For Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen, the crushing defeat ends an unbeaten run that has already delivered an invincible league campaign and the bid for a treble, although they will have a chance to achieve domestic supremacy if they win the German Cup final against second-tier Kaiserslautern in Berlin at the weekend.

But for Atalanta, it caps a memorable journey that saw Sporting Lisbon, Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool and Marseille knocked out along the road to Dublin.

Specks of blue and black or black and red, depending on the wearer's preferences, had sprouted onto caps, scarves and jackets around the city centre as the day wore on and only flourished on the roads leading to the Dublin 4 colosseum, the bulk of Leverkusen fans arriving from Shelbourne Park and their Atalanta counterparts winding their way from the RDS Simmonscourt amid a heavy Garda presence.

Long before interim Republic of Ireland manager John O’Shea carried in the holy grail both sides were on a quest for, the