What do you guys think of Leverkusen getting a proper beating from Atalanta and ending their 51 games without a loss streak? Will this affect their performance next season? Do you consider them to be the favourite to defend their title (if no major changes to the team are made)?
I think it was a sobering reality check and a signal that they need to continue working hard to repeat their success and nothing will be given to them for free. There was almost something magical about their undefeated streak, especially given the 3 recent 90+ minute equalisers, which could create an impression that there's some higher power behind them preventing them from losing. They might have believed it a little bit too much and got a cold shower.
This was quite a disappointing result for Leverkusen because they had to end their unbeaten record and that happened in the final which meant they failed to become champions of the Europa League this season. They also had to lose by a fairly heavy score of 3 goals without reply, so that made them suffer a painful defeat in this match.
This is something they have to fix, because now it seems that other teams are also aware of the weak points that they can exploit, so Atalanta is the first team to be able to do that. I think other teams will also learn what Atalanta did in this match so that they will apply it when they face Leverkusen next season.
However, even though they lost and failed to become champions, it did not reduce their extraordinary performance for a full season, it was just a bit of disappointment because they failed to give their best to make them achieve the treble winners this season.