Xabi Alonso and his entire squad doesn't run from fight, rather they embraced them but this one was just out of the picture. The Europa League final was definitely tough and only the best was able to accumulate winning points and they're now Europa League title champion. Bayer Leverkusen maintain an unbeaten run in bundesliga but couldn't make it al complete after their defeats against Atalanta in the Europa League final. This was humiliating result on Atalanta ends.
Final match has a very different atmosphere compared from ordinary matches, so indeed mentality and motivation are important factors that greatly affect the performance of both teams in the final, I don't want to say if Leverkusen did not have a strong mentality in the final, but of course we can see how the comparison between the performance when they played in the Bundesliga and the final against Atlanta at that time which was very difference. In addition, we can also see how they performed in the DFB Pokal final which was only able to score 1 goal against a team from the German 2nd Division, even though they won, it was clear that the Leverkusen players had a pretty bad mentality in the match.
Atlanta and Leverkusen will play in the Champions League next season, so indeed they need to improve their mentality even better because the Champions League is a very competitive game and of course has a bigteam and ready to destroy Atlanta and also Leverkusen later, although leverkusen defeat from Atlanta in the Europa League final, but I think it will not make Leverkusen and Alonso look bad at the moment.