While Qarabag fought hard and showed resilience, Bayern Leverkusen's winning mentality prevailed once again. This match may have been their toughest challenge yet this season, but it's a testament to their strong leadership and management. Xabi Alonso's presence has been instrumental, and if he remains with Bayern Leverkusen, they have the potential to win more trophies in the coming days.
A bit hard to swallow for Qarabag fans I believe, especially with the red card they got. Not to say Leverkusen doesn't deserve the win, but it would be a different story if it were 11 vs 11 till the end of the second half. But who knows, maybe they will still go into the extra time and Leverkusen win it too. Anyway, my point is that it is not solely on their winning mentality or whatnot, circumstances surrounding the game also matter a lot.
One of the random teams in this season is Atalanta, lately. Quite good overall, playing badly in a game and turning a different side in another, Sporting was the favorite and somehow this is the result.
They are consistent in the Europa League based on their stats at least[1]. They managed to overperform their xG too, which shows that their finishing is quite good. They also played in the Champions League a few seasons ago. They are a solid team and good enough to go through the last 16.
[1]
https://fbref.com/en/squads/922493f3/2023-2024/matchlogs/c19/schedule/Atalanta-Scores-and-Fixtures-Europa-League