Atletico Madrid 3-0 Athletic Bilbao
For the second year in a row, the brilliant Colombian striker Radamel Falcao made the difference in the Europa League Final as Atletico Madrid strolled to victory over Athletic Bilbao.
Some dudes by the names of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo tend to hog most of the headlines in Spain, often overshadowing the contributions of Falcao, who once again showed his worth to a wider audience in Bucharest this evening.
Falcao had as good as beaten Bilbao on his own by half-time, scoring two expertly taken goals to give his side a commanding first half advantage. The second, after 34 minutes, came after he executed a lovely drag back in the penalty area, but his first after seven minutes (see below), was the pick of the goals on the night.
Atletico Madrid 1-0 Athletic Bilbao by Amr_AboulAzm
Bilbao tried valiantly to fight back in the second half, but Diego put the game out of sight with five minutes left on the clock with another excellently taken effort, helping Atletico to their second Europa League triumph in three years.
The Bilbao players looked particularly distraught after the final whistle, but let that not take away from the star of the show, who, only a year after moving to Atletico for €40 million, will no doubt be at the top of the shopping list of many a European heavyweight again in the summer.
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