Atalanta’s Ademola Lookman scores his side’s third goal during the Europa League final soccer match between Atalanta and Bayer Leverkusen at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland, Wednesday, May 22, 2024.
Ademola Lookman had a great night in Dublin. The 27-year-old player is having a great season and is on a team that makes the most of his skills. The Nigerian player scored a hat-trick against Leverkusen, becoming the second player in European Cup history to do so. The first was Pierino Prati of Milan in the 1969 C1 Cup match against Ajax.
When the Europa League final was over, Lookman was praised as a hero by the Atalanta players. But Lookman had to go through times of trouble in his work before he reached that moment of glory.
In the exact same year, November 7, 2020, Lookman went through the worst time of his career. Fans at home booed and yelled at the Fulham striker when he missed a penalty ƙick against West Ham in extra time, with Fulham ahead 1-0.
It was a beautiful panenka, but Lukasz Fabianski, the goalie, caught it easily. Lookingman was seen as a bad guy by Fulham fans because of his pointless flashy finish.
That mistake summed up Lookman’s poor Premier League career. A winger with a lot of promise who isn’t brave enough to stand firm in the land of fog’s highest division.
When Lookman won the U20 World Cup in 2017, he was seen as a big deal in English football. His three goals made him the star of England U20 that year. He was born in London. There are a lot of people who think Lookman will one day own the England team, including Dominic Solanke, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, and Fikayo Tomori.
That being said, the Premier League is too tough for Lookman. From Charlton, this quick winger went to Everton, Fulham, and Leicester, but he didn’t make a big mark at any of them. There were two bad seasons at RB Leipzig in the middle, but they helped Lookman decide he wanted to play abroad.
The British are no longer interested in the U20 World Cup star of 2017. Leicester didn’t want to buy Lookman fully in the summer of 2022, even though he had a good season on loan from Leipzig (42 games, 8 goals). It was even RB Leipzig who turned away from Lookman.
At that time, Atalanta made Lookman an offer worth 15 million euros, which gave him a new chance. The shooter, who was born in Nigeria, found the perfect place to improve his football skills. Lookman also chose to play for Nigeria at that time because he knew he had no chance with England anymore.
Atalanta, Lookman all of a suddҽn became the best player on the Bergamo team. Lookman helped score 46 goals during his two seasons with Atalanta, with 30 goals and 16 helpers. This is something that no other Atalanta player has ever done.
Lookman has scored 15 goals in all games this season, including a hat tɾick against Leverkusen. Of all the players who scored 18 goals, only Gianluca Scamacca did better. Gian Piero Gasperini, the coach, said this about Lookman: “He is a fast, strong, and very skilled player; a winger that any coach would want.”
It was Gasperini who helped Lookman’s melting at Atalanta. The Atalanta captain changed Lookman’s eating and sleeping habits to help his student do better.
When Gasperini told me to eat simpler things like pasta, fish, vegetables, and no sauce, I did. I went to the cold room after the game to rest and do some stretching. Gasperini pushed me into a structure in a very harsh way. “And I need to thank him for that,” Lookman said about his teacher from Italy.
