Ademola Lookman was the man of the night in Dublin as his hat-trick powered Atalanta past Xabi Alonso's Leverkusen to hand Gasperini's men their first ever European trophy, Nigeriasoccernet.com can report.
The Super Eagles talisman continued from where he left off during the African Cup of Nations in Cote d'Ivoire putting Atalanta in front as early as the 12th minutes of the encounter, beating Leverkusen's defender to a cross which he latched onto beyond the reach of goalkeeper Kovar to give Atalanta the lead.
Lookman then beat 3 Leverkusen's defender in the 26th minutes before curling the ball into the far left corner of Kovar's post to give Atalanta a comfortable 2-goal lead into the break.
Boniface who started the night on the bench for Leverkusen was introduced at the start of the second half to turn things around for Alonso's men but it was rather too late as Lookman killed their hopes of a possible comeback with his 3rd of the game on the 75th minutes.
All attempts by Alonso to salvage the night with introduction of new legs which included Nigeria's Nathan Tella failed as Atalanta players held onto the 3 goals lead, leaving no room for complacency as they won the club's first major trophy.
Ademola Lookman who saw his short denied by the cross bar last weekend in the Coppa Italia Cup final against Juventus had them perfect on the night, scoring all of his attempts on goal, becoming the first player to score a hat-trick in an Europa League final.
The Nigerian was also named the man of the match following the stellar performance for Atalanta in Dublin.
A disappointing night for Nathan Tella and Victor Boniface who saw their 51 games unbeaten come to an end and also their dream of winning a treble.
They face 1. FC Kaiserslautern on Saturday in the final of the DFB-Pokal as they aim to finish the season with a double of League and Cup titles.
By Oluwayemi Omolagba