HISTORY was made on an unforgettable Wednesday night in Dublin, Ireland, as Super Eagles forward, Ademola Lookman, scored a hat-trick to help Atalanta defeat German champions, Bayer Leverkusen, in the 2023/24 Europa League final held on May 22. That triumph marked Atalanta’s first-ever European trophy and its second major title, the first in over 60 years. It was classic, legendary stuff, as the German champions had entered into the Aviva Stadium on a terrific momentum. The side parading Super Eagles stars Victor Boniface and Nathan Tella had just won the Bundesliga title for the first time in the club’s history. The Coach Xabi Alonso-tutored team had won the league in royal style, becoming the first team in the competition’s history to go unbeaten in a season. Boniface had scored 14 goals and registered eight assists. Tella, on the other hand, had registered five goals and provided two assists. Bayer Leverkusen’s extraordinary 51-game unbeaten run was the story on many lips. The club had its sights on an unprecedented treble, and a million bookmakers were on its side. But history had other ideas: the German team was going to lift the DFB Pokal, which was won on Saturday, May 25, but not the May 22 Europa League cup.
Lovers of the beautiful game have not ceased telling the magical story as the lurking Lookman shot the Italian side ahead after just 12 minutes on that golden night in Dublin. Two of his team-mates missed Davide Zappacosta’s angled ball back across the box, but Lookman was there with a fierce look, smashing a low effort past Matĕj Kovář. He then doubled Atalanta’s lead 14 minutes later after collecting the ball and dribbling past Granit Xhaka. The stadium went wild as the ball landed in the bottom right hand corner of the Leverkusen net, but the Eagles’ danger man was not done yet. In the 75th minute, he latched unto a pass by Gianluca Scamacca and shattered the history books. The scene after the final whistle was terrific. Said the 66-year-old Atalanta coach, Gian Piero Gasperini, who had just won the first major trophy of his long career: “Nobody could ever have imagined he would make this much progress. He wasn’t overly prolific in England. I changed his position to a more attacking role. Tonight he achieved something which will remain in the annals of football history – a stunning hat-trick.” And hear the man of the moment himself: “These past two years I’ve been able to take my game to a whole new level. Maybe it could have come earlier, but it has come now. But this is just the beginning. I hope for more nights like this and to just keep getting better and better.” Lookman scored 10 goals as La Dea finished fourth in Serie A, and he and his teammates will now receive the gold medal from the City of Bergamo following their Europa heroics.
Things haven’t been a bed of roses for the Wandsworth, Greater London-born Nigerian prodigy. Lookman, who joined Charlton Athletic’s academy in 2014 after signing from Waterloo, a youth football club based in the London Borough of Lambeth, made his first-team debut for the Addicks ( Charlton Athletic) on November 3, 2015. He would later pen a four-and-a-half-year contract with Everton on January 5, 2017, making his debut for the club 10 days later in a 4–0 thumping of Manchester City, and registering his name on the scorers’ sheet. Lookman made his first European appearance for Everton in a 1–0 win over MFK Ružomberok in the Europa League third qualifying round first leg but because he was not guaranteed first-team football, he switched allegiances to the German Bundesliga club RB Leipzig until the end of the 2017–18 season. He dumped his five-year contract with RB Leipzig and joined Premier League side Fulham on a season-long loan in September 2020. It was from here that on 31 August 2021, he joined Leicester City on a season-long loan. On August 4, 2022, Lookman joined Serie A club Atalanta on a four-year contract, and here is where the story began to take a phenomenal turn. The winger scored, as he always seems to do, on his debut for the club, in a 2–0 win over Sampdoria. In January 2023, he scored braces in three consecutive matches. Then came May 22, 2024….
That magical night, the AFCON 2023 silver medalist became the first player to score a hat-trick in a European final since Pierino Prati in 1969. Although born in England and fielded in the country’s youth competitions, including a golden run at the FIFA U-20 World Cup held in South Korea, Lookman looked Nigeria’s way in 2020, making his debut for Nigeria on March 25, 2022, in a barren draw with Ghana as part of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. At the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations held in Cote D’Ivoire, Lookman scored both goals for Nigeria in a 2–0 win over Cameroon in the round of 16, and the only goal in a 1–0 win over Angola in the quarter-final. And although the Eagles lost the final 1–2 to Ivory Coast, the extremely versatile and explosive winger had made a stunning statement at the continental showpiece.
If Lookman’s Europa night of triumph proves anything, it is the fact that hard work, determination, zeal and focus come with amazing rewards. Throughout his career, and as the world saw at the 2023 AFCON, Lookman has always sought to exit his comfort zone. He shone brightly at the AFCON tourney where he displayed amazing skill and mastery while proudly representing his fatherland. His star performance at the Europa League final where he mesmerised the world, bagging the three goals that humbled Bayer Leverkusen, was only an icing on the cake of hard work baked over the last few years. The magic of May 22, the day Lookman rose above his peers to shoot Atalanta to a great record, did not happen by chance; it was preceded by grueling self-exertion and discipline. He is a real source of pride to his compatriots, especially young boys and girls with abundant talents and skills begging to be discovered and groomed to stardom.
We are extremely delighted with his success and hope that this is only the beginning of many legendary stories woven around him. We urge him to see his historic feat as only a stepping stone to greater heights in his flourishing career. Go on and create better records, champion.
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