Sports
Chris Peddy and Chris Slegg
Ademola Lookman’s Europa League-winning hat-trick was “beyond anyone’s wildest dreams,” his former academy coach at Charlton Athletic Steve Avery said.
The 26-year-old Nigeria international scored three spectacular, unanswered goals for Atalanta as the Italian side ended Xabi Alonso and Bayer Leverkusen’s 361-day unbeaten run with a 3-0 win in the final in Dublin.
He was an unused substitute in Atalanta’s memorable quarter-final first-leg win at Anfield against Liverpool before coming off the bench during the Red’s 1-0 second-leg victory in Bergamo.
But starting against the Bundesliga champions, Lookman ran riot.
He stole in at the back post for the first, bent the ball into the bottom corner with his right foot for the second, before rifling home into the top-right corner with his left to complete the first hat-trick in a major European final since Jupp Heynckes for Borussia Monchengladbach in the 1975 Uefa Cup.
‘It was written in the stars’
A clip of West Ham goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski easily saving Lookman’s attempted Panenka penalty during a loan spell at Fulham circulated on social media after the game, showing what a transformative performance this was.
But for Charlton academy director Avery, the quality was always there.
“He was so exciting to watch. That second and third goal – I’ve seen him do that here, so I’m not surprised,” he told BBC Sport London.
“You always wanted him to get on the ball, you weren’t sure what would happen sometimes but you knew there was a good chance of it exciting you.
“I don’t think it would have been in anyone’s wildest dreams that that would have happened.”
Lookman has won 21 caps and scored six goals for Nigeria, starting the Super Eagles’ 2-1 final defeat by Ivory Coast in the Africa Cup of Nations this year.
But long before that, as a boy growing up in Wandsworth, south London, he played for Waterloo FC between the ages of nine and 16.
Oliver Reynolds was one of his coaches and said he saw the “Lookman of old” against Leverkusen.
“I woke up this morning and just said ‘pinch me because I’m pretty sure that was a dream’ – we loved every minute of it,” he said.
“But, man, it was written in the stars for Ademola Lookman.” (BBC Sports)
F.A May 24, 2024
Tags: Lookman
