ADEMOLA LOOKMAN’S hat-trick heroics in the Europa League final have led to him joining an exclusive club.
The forward and Atalanta abruptly ended Bayer Leverkusen’s dream of an unbeaten season by thumping them 3-0 in Dublin.
The 26-year-old scored a brilliant treble to fire the Italian club to the Europa League at the Aviva Stadium and end their 61-year trophy drought.
Lookman, who graduated from Charlton Athletic’s academy before going on to play for Everton in 2017, joined the Serie A side from RB Leipzig in a £12m deal last summer.
And the ex-Fulham and Leicester City loanee has now written his name into Atalanta folklore and achieved legendary status with his exploits yesterday.
However, his performance also earned him another highly-coveted accolade – a perfect and ultra-rare 10/10 rating from L’Equipe.
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The Nigerian international firstly beat a defender to latch on to a ball that was played back across goal to score from inside the box.
Lookman then “sent Granit Xhaka to a retirement home” with a moment of genius leading up to his second.
He put the ball through Xhaka’s legs to set up the chance as he shifted his weight perfectly to meg his rival and then tee up a long-distance effort that he struck with serious venom to find the bottom corner of the net.
Lookman then secured the trophy, and the matchball, with a finish into the top right corner after being slipped in down the left.
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That capped the perfect performance as the notoriously tough-to-please L’Equipe gave him a glowing assessment – and also made him just the 18th player to ever receive a 10/10 rating from them.
They wrote: “The Nigerian scored three magnificent goals.
“The first as a center forward, overtaking Palacios and putting the right foot area under the bar of Kovar’s goal (12th).
“The second is a technical feat, a small bridge-rolling strike sequence, in the middle of several German players (26th). And the third is a masterpiece (75th).
“It’s the perfect match. He scored three goals almost single-handedly in a European Cup final against a team that was favourite. It ticks all the boxes of the 10.”
He is the first player to score that mark since Erling Haaland scored five past RB Leipzig for Man City in last season’s Champions League.
The Norwegian goal machine is one of only two men to manage that feat – the other being the legendary Lionel Messi.
However, Haaland is the only person to achieve both in the same season.
The perfect 10 is something even Cristiano Ronaldo has never been able to achieve.
Now Lookman says that he hopes his man of the match performance is just the start of big things to come.
L’EQUIPE’S PERFECT 10s
Here are the 18 times that the notoriously hard outlet has given 10/10:
1. Franck Sauzee (France v Greece, 1988)
2. Bruno Martini (France v Greece, 1988)
3. Oleg Salenko (Russia v Cameroon, 1994)
4. Lars Windfeld (Aarhus v Nantes, 1997)
5. Lionel Messi (Barcelona v Arsenal, 2010)
6. Lionel Messi (Barcelona v Bayer Leverkusen, 2012)
7. Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund v Real Madrid, 2013)
8. Carlos Eduardo (Nice v Guingamp, 2014)
9. Neymar (Paris Saint-Germain v Dijon, 2018)
10. Dusan Tadic (Ajax v Real Madrid, 2019)
12. Lucas Moura (Tottenham v Ajax, 2019)
13. Serge Gnabry (Bayern Munich v Tottenham, 2019)
13. Kylian Mbappe (France v Kazakhstan, 2021)
14. Alban Lafont (Nantes v Paris Saint-Germain, 2021)
15. Erling Haaland (Man City v Man United, 2022
16. Dominik Livakovic (Croatia 1-1 Brazil (pens 4-2), 2022)
17. Erling Haaland (Man City v RB Leipzig, 2023)
18. Ademola Lookman (Atalanta v Bayer Leverkusen 2024)
He said: “I’ve always had the confidence in my ability.
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“In the past two years I’ve been able to take my game to a new level and show it on a more consistent basis.
“Maybe it could have come earlier but it’s come now. I’m pleased with the progress I’ve made but this is just the beginning. I hope for more nights like this.”
Lookman goes from Panenka laughing stock to European hat-trick hero
ADEMOLA LOOKMAN will go down in Atalanta, and European football, folklore after his stunning Europa League final hat-trick vs Bayer Leverkusen.
Lookman’s treble was the first in the final of a Uefa competition since 1975.
But some Premier League fans won’t have believed their eyes – after witnessing his infamous Panenka miss for Fulham.
Lookman was spotted playing Sunday league in Lambeth by Charlton just TEN YEARS ago, at the age of 16.
Twelve months on, in 2015, he was already the Addicks’ best player, shining on the wing in the Championship.
And before he knew it, Lookman was in the Premier League after a massive £11million move to Everton.
Lookman, by now 20, made an instant impact, scoring on his debut in 4-0 thrashing of Manchester City.
He even won the U20s World Cup with England, netting three goals in the tournament.
But he struggled to earn regular football with the Toffees, before defying boss Sam Allardyce’s wishes by snubbing a loan to Derby to push through a move to RB Leipzig instead.
Lookman impressed in the Bundesliga with five goals and earned a permanent move.
But he again failed to settle and soon found himself back in the Prem on loan with Fulham
His spell at Craven Cottage saw moments of brilliance overshadowed by costly mistakes.
None more so than his ill-fated Panenka penalty against West Ham.
Lookman’s scuffed chipped effort dropped tamely into motionless Lukasz Fabianski’s waiting hands, leading to widespread criticism and ridicule from fans and pundits alike.
A loan at Leicester followed but it was a switch to Atalanta in Serie A which saw Lookman finally fulfil his potential.
Now playing international football for Nigeria, he helped them reach the Afcon final earlier this year.
But he didn’t have to wait long to add his first senior trophy as the undisputed man-of-the-match in Dublin against the previous unbeatable Leverkusen.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
