On the night of Wednesday 22 May in Dublin, Ireland, a star lit up the Aviva Stadium. His name: Ademola Lookman. The 26-year-old striker single-handedly knocked out a team that had gone 51 games unbeaten in
all competitions since the start of the 2023-2024 season.
In this derby, where some were not giving Atalanta Bergamo much of a chance, the Nigerian put the Dea, or Goddess in Italian, into orbit.
Taking advantage of Exequiel Palacios’s apathy, a cross from Davide Zappacosta was met by Teun Koopmeiners, and Lookman opened the scoring with a flat left foot from the edge of the penalty area (12’, 1-0).
Bayer Leverkusen have come back from hell several times this season, whether in domestic competition or on the European stage. Xabi Alonso’s men have come from behind to score just one goal, but they have also come from behind in more complicated situations.
Ademola Lookman, a native of Wandsworth in the south of London, England, had this in mind. He told himself he had to double his tally.
He did just that in the 26th minute of a game that was tactically well managed by Gian Piero Gasperini’s side.
After a clearance from goalkeeper Matej Kovar, heavy pressure in midfield caused Morocco’s Amin Adli to miss a back header. On the receiving end of this inadvertent pass was, as you would expect, Lookman. With a classy combination of control, a dink over Granit Xhaka and a powerful right-footed curl, the No11 guided the ball into
the back of the net (2-0).
Clinical efficiency
In the second half, the German club’s Spanish coach made a host of changes in a bid to turn things around. Atalanta, out of sheer guile, left the ball to their opponents. 33 percent possession throughout the match.
With time running out, Leverkusen attacked with the energy of desperation. As a result, La Dea had more space to exploit and Ademola Lookman, once again, took advantage. Following his coach’s instructions to the letter, Croatian Mario Pasalic forced Ecuador’s Piero Hincapie into a corner until the ball was recovered.
Gianluca Scamacca was then found in a pivotal position. The colossal Italian centre-forward played a pass to Lookman on the left. The technically gifted player, who has played for Charlton, Everton, RB Leipzig, Fulham and Leicester, controlled the ball with his right foot and stared down Burkinabe central defender Edmond Tapsoba, before bewitching him with a neat turn of the leg.
Opening himself up to a good shooting opportunity, Lookman slotted the ball past the keeper to the top corner, sending the 12,000 German fans into raptures and bury Leverkusen’s last hopes (75’, 3-0) of a recovery.
Atalanta Bergamo, who lost the Italian Cup final a week earlier to Juventus (0-1), thus won their first European trophy.
Ademola was also named “Man of the Match” and shone with his talent.
He is the first African player to score a hat-trick in a European final. The first to do so in the Europa League. In all the European Cups since Jupp Heynckes, in 1975 with Borussia Monchengladbach, nobody had scored a hat-trick in the final.
New stature
“We did it all together. The trophy is coming home with us to Bergamo. It’s incredible, fantastic. Last season was already very interesting and now we’ve won a title. We’re going to celebrate,” said the bankable winger at the end of the match.
Ademola Lookman had not reached such heights since his professional debut. Before he made his name with the Dea, he had never scored more than ten goals in a single season. In Serie A alone, the Super Eagle has scored 10 goals and made 6 assists in 30 games.
Whoscored, a specialist website that takes into account the number of shots per game, the rate of successful passes and the number of times the player has been voted man of the match, has placed Lookman 24th in
the ranking of the best players in the Italian league in 2023-2024. No African player has done better.
“Over the last two years, the club and the coach have supported me by giving me the playing time and support I need to play football and show my style of play. This has enabled me to reach a whole new level. I’m grateful to them for that,” Lookman said.
“Maybe it could have happened sooner, but it’s happening now. But this is just the beginning. I hope to have more nights like this and keep improving. I’ve always been confident in my ability to create, score
goals and help my teammates,” he added.
Ademola Lookman’s metamorphosis is to the credit of Coach Gian Piero Gasperini, who concedes: “Nobody could imagine he would make so much progress.”
And the finalist at the last edition of the Africa Cup of Nations (AfCON) with Nigeria (defeated by Côte d’Ivoire, 1-2), who came through the England youth ranks, can still make more progress after a meandering career.
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