Meet Ademola Lookman, scorer of Atalanta’s three Europa League title goals

Atalanta beat Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 this Wednesday, in the Europa League final. The Italian team ended a 51-game unbeaten run by the Germans, who had not lost all season. The person largely responsible for this feat was striker Ademola Lookman, who scored three goals in the big decision and took the European title to Bergamo.

🌟 | PLAYER OF THE MATCH

Ademola Lookman v Bayer Leverkusen:

👌 60 touches
⚽️ 3 goals
🎯 3 shots (0.31 xG)
🔑 2 key passes
👟 29/33 accurate passes
💨 4/7 successful dribbles
🤺 9/15 ground duels won
🤕 4 fouls suffered
📈 9.8 Sofascore Rating

Atalanta’s hat-trick hero and our… pic.twitter.com/zJEQEXYNrr

— Sofascore (@SofascoreINT) May 22, 2024

Nigerian, Ademola Lookman, has been called up by the African national team since 2022. His parents, also Nigerians, moved to England before the birth of the player, who is originally from London. A professional football athlete since 2015, the 26-year-old striker has played for many well-known clubs in Europe such as RB Leipzig, Everton and Leicester City.

At Atalanta since 2022, Lookman has played 76 games for the Italian team, scored 30 goals and provided 16 assists. In the current season, the Nigerian was on the field 43 times, scored 15 times and contributed eight assists.

Lookman’s hat-trick in the Europa League final this Wednesday was historic. Not since 1969 has a player managed to score three goals in the final of an active European competition. The last to do this was Pierino Prati, in Milan’s 4-1 victory against Ajax, in the final of the European Champion Clubs’ Cup (currently the Champions League). This data was collected by the website Sofascore.

It was the first time in his career that Lookman scored three goals in a game. This year’s Europa League was Atalanta’s first European title. The Italian club had not won a trophy for 61 years, since 1963, when they won the Italian Cup.