Ademola Lookman reckoned Atalanta must be at their best to beat Bayer Leverkusen in the final of the UEFA Europa League.
The Serie A club will look to win their first European title when they take on the Bundesliga champions at the Aviva Stadium, Dublin on Wednesday night (today).
Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen are unbeaten across all competitions this season.
Die Werkself are also in the final of the DFB Pokal.
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Lookman and his teammates suffered an agonizing 1-0 defeat to Juventus in the final of the Coppa Italia last week.
The winger insisted that Leverkusen will be a tough nut to crack for his team but they will do their best to come out tops.
“A big occasion for us as a club, as players, as a team, so I’m looking forward to it. We need to be at the top of our game. We know that coming into the tie against a top team, who play top football,” the Nigeria international told club’s official website.
“Like we’ve shown this season we play our football to the best of our abilities and we do the necessary.”
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Ademola Lookman is on fire tonight, scored a brace already and Atalanta leads 2:0 against Leverkusen, game on now 43″.
CAF APOTY 2024 on my mind after his exploits @ AFCON 2024 plus a possible EUROPA win tonight
Ademola Lookman is flying! It’s 5 minutes to half time and Lookman has banged in two fantastic goals for Atalanta, they’re 2-nil up.
Both Boniface and Tella are on the bench – which serves Alonso right for dropping his top goal scorer to the bench in one of the most important games of the season!
He will come to the national team and Finidi will still play a rusty Iheanacho in the name of senior players… Lookman and Osimhen are our best performers right now and it has to be understood that Iheanacho,Chukwueze and Moses Simon can no longer be starters for Super Eagles… We need wingers who can sometimes decide games.
Bro, I tire ooo, someone in this forum called him an ordinary player. We know them. Lookman the African footballer of the yesr..
Lookman is absolutely annihilating this Tapsoba guy. Finidi needs to see this game and learn how to use Lookman
Hat trick for Lookman
And…he has just gone ahead to score a hatrick, killing Tapsoba again!! Worls class from Lookman!!!
African footballer of the year…..I mean who else? Lol
No Moses Simon but you people will be trying to justify Iwobi ba?
I have said all along that Simon is one of our best players – anyone who knows football and the usefulness of a footballer cannot deny this, just because he is not scoring goals etc, every player has a role on the pitch, football is a team sport not a game of individuals, Moses Simon does an incredible job for the SE’s and for one so young(ish) he has been doing so for an incredible length of time – compared to Iwobi, it’s like chalk and cheese!
Of late, Iwobi has clearly been the weakest link in the SE’s, when he first burst on the scene and still knew how to defend as well as pass forward, he was good and the expectation was for him to push on and improve, personally had him chalked down to Victor Moses’ heir in the team but the reality is that he has just gone down and now is an actual liability to the team – anyone who remembers how Victor Moses played for the team will know what I am talking about – Iwobi literally just escorts the opposition up and down on the pitch, never puts up any opposition, and pretends he is doing something by running around like a headless chicken – the only positive in his game is if he ever finds the ball in an advanced position on the pitch, he does have a good forward pass in him but that’s when he isnt passing it sideways and backwards, which he does much more of – he NEVER scores again like he used to at least try to do when he first came on the scene, it’s like he has completely forgotten how to shoot – only here in Nigeria will you see people hyping Iwobi and it is a joke, football has moved on and everyone now must be ready to work hard on the pitch and put in the hard yards, I applaud him for his commitment to Nigeria and I am actually proud of him, but we must not let that cloud our judgement when we are looking at the player’s actual contribution to the team, Nigeria has always had strong running physical yet very skilful players, that is what we are know for, go back through history and check it out – our wingers and midfielders of previous eras – look at anyone of them and compare to Iwobi and you’ll see what I am saying, is Babangida or Ikpeba, or Victor Moses or even the playmakers like Musa (in his prime) Osaze, Aghahowa etc, even the legends like JJ and Papilo, you couldn’t just run past these guys like people constantly run past Iwobi – I am totally against attacking him in the media or anything personal at all – I am a realist and nothing I do is personal, these are just facts based on the fact that I am very competitive and just hate it when Nigeria puts out a team that has obvious flaws like we have done a few times recently like Finidi’s team against Mali or when Iwobi is entrusted with a starter berth in the team and the same goes for Iheanacho – I think the word for these players is “lazy” or “lackadaisical”, same thing applies to Chukwueze, but to include Moses Simon in that group I disagree with.
Don’t get me wrong though, I appreciate Iwobi as much as the next man, but when it’s excellence that is needed on the pitch then he must be firmly on the bench and should only come on when we are fully in control of a game and in absolutely no danger of losing a game – like with a 2-3 goal lead and with very few minutes to go- otherwise a hole will open in our midfield and the opposition will progress the ball, score, get encouraged and the whole complexion of the game turns on it’s head and they more often than not tend to lose those kind of games.
And Lookman just scored a hat trick!! The first person to do so in a European championship finals!! Get in Ademola Lookman!! Finidi Finidi, Finidi…SHINE YOUR EYES! Don’t ever try to put seniority before excellence ever again!!
African footballer of the year. The question is who else?
Don’t sleep on Guirassy
But Lookman just shot up the list
Absolutely stunning performance from Lookman!
First player to ever score a hat trick in Europa League final.
A legend already!
Lookman , Stunning hat trick and man of the match performance!
Over to you Finidi – all eyes on you now my guy.
Peace and good luck!
It is between him and Haller.If Dortmond beat Real Madrid with Haller scoring, then the APOTY goes to him.Otherwise, it is looking good for Lookman