Ademola Lookman, who 10 years ago was playing Sunday League in England, delivered a master class in how to score great goals on a big occasion to give Atalanta their first-ever European trophy Wednesday night in Dublin.
🗣️ "THE NIGHT OF HIS LIFE, THE NIGHT OF HIS DREAMS!"
— SuperSport Football ⚽️ (@SSFootball) May 22, 2024
Ademola Lookman is the first player in history to score a hat-trick in a #UELFinal 👏
Xabi Alonso's face says it all.. pic.twitter.com/Yvn8JD5EnL
It was an awesome individual performance, which was evident at the 2023 AFCON, where he finished as the Super Eagles joint leading scorer with three goals.
Fellow Super Eagles star Kenneth Omeruo has already joined the chorus that Nigeria will soon be celebrating another CAF African Player of the Year.
And also this compact force of nature now gives a whole country hope and belief that he could play another big role to get Nigeria’s 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign off and running again next month after a laboured start.
The second striker in his prime at 26 does not only score important goals, but the audacity with which he does so, leaves both critics and admirers under his spell.
And he has done all that without much fuss, all within his strides.
‘Mola’ is one of great balance, power, full of running and crucially armed with an exceptional shooting prowess.
That could well explain why in 2017 Everton splashed over 8 Million Pounds as transfer fee to snap him up from Charlton Athletic.
He will go on to shine at German Bundesliga club RB Leipzig, first on loan before they made the transfer permanent by forking out 18 Million Pounds in the summer of 2019.
Leicester City still regret till this day why they did not come up with the cash to sign him on a permanent deal after he had first impressed on loan from RB Leipzig.
England loss was Nigeria’s huge gain when the South London-born player changed international allegiance after he helped his adopted country to win the 2017 U17 FIFA World Cup in Korea.
Ademola Lookman avec sa maman après son triplé en finale. 🇳🇬🥰👏
— Actu Foot (@ActuFoot_) May 22, 2024
pic.twitter.com/hW4Wg5pA5M
He is at his deadliest as a second striker when he is closer to goal and that would explain why he struggled in his earlier Super Eagles games as a winger out on the flanks.
At the delayed 2023 AFCON in February, Lookman and Moses Simon played as inverted wingers in a 3-4-3 formation and was so effective to establish himself in a star-studded Super Eagles attack.
He followed up this outing by delivering a stunning match winner against arch-rivals Ghana in the first Super Eagles game of coach Finidi George.
Finidi got his sums wrong when he brought on ‘Mola’ in the second friendly against Mali only 17 minutes from full time and it went horribly wrong for the Super Eagles.
The new Super Eagles coach cannot afford a similar slip against South Africa on June 7 because his team need goals to finish off Bafana Bafana.
When you score goals in the audacious fashion Ademola Lookman does, it takes out the heart and soul of the opponent as the whole world saw Wednesday night in Dublin.
That is the unfortunate fate that awaits Bafana Bafana in Uyo.
