Guardian Nigeria
Super Eagles forward, Ademola Lookman, was majestic in his strides as his hat-trick, yesterday, gave Italy’s Atalanta a 3-0 victory over hitherto unbeaten Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa Cup final.
Bayer Leverkusen, who had gone through 51 games of the season unbeaten as they won their first German Bundesliga title and qualified for the Europa League final, were tipped to beat Atalanta in Dublin for the trophy. But many did not reckon with Gian Piero Gasperini’s midfield masterclass, which snuffed out everything Leverkusen threw at them and dictated the pace of the game.
On a day many expected Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz, Adli and Victor Boniface to steal the show as they always do, Lookman ceased the stage to remind European football followers of the promise he showed playing for England’s youth team’s a little less than 10 years ago.
It is rare in modern football for an individual to dominate a game so well that each time he touched the ball, the opponents shivered. But that was exactly what Lookman did at the Aviva Stadium, where he stole behind a static Leverkusen defence to open scores in the 12th minute.
The lad, who was Super Eagles’ highest goal scorer at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, returned in the 26th minute to score his second when he seized a backward header by Leverkusen’s Amine Adli to stun the thousands of Germans at the arena.
Leverkusen this season has been renowned for their ability to comeback no matter the deficit, but not this time.
Lookman, who won the player of the match award, sealed Atalanta’s victory in the 76th minute when he fired a screamer into the top right corner of the net.
The former Charlton and Everton star became the first player to score a hat-trick in a single leg UEFA Cup or Europa League final. Yesterday’s game was Atalanta’s first European final and for a team that has not won a top-level trophy since the Italian Cup in 1963, it was more than their drumming and baying faithful could contain.
It banished the agony of their recent painful 1-0 loss to Juventus in the Coppa Italia final, but more importantly, it reminded football followers that things don’t always happen the way experts predict.
Atalanta’s heroics were not altogether strange as a team that beat Liverpool home and away on their way to the final is not one to toy with. Yesterday’s win gave Atalanta a direct ticket to next year’s UEFA Champions League.
