Atalanta’s Ademola Lookman scored the first hat-trick in Europa League and UEFA Cup final history to condemn the German champions to their first loss of the season.
Atalanta winger Ademola Lookman was unstoppable and Bayer Leverkusen’s impossible dream of completing an entire season unbeaten with a hat-trick of titles proved to be just that.
Instead, Lookman was the hat-trick hero in Atalanta’s 3-0 win over Leverkusen in the Europa League final on Wednesday ., whose European record unbeaten run stopped at 51 games. Lookman, the London-born Nigeria international, was ruthless punishing big errors by Leverkusen players to score twice in the first 26 minutes of a game where the favourites never looked at ease. He capped his solo show with an arrowing shot in the 75th.
In any normal season, or a typical European final, Atalanta and their veteran coach Gian Piero Gasperini would be the feelgood story. Berat Djimsiti hoists hat-trick hero Ademola Lookman after Atalanta’s Europa League final win over heavy favourites Bayer Leverkusen.What is not to love for neutral fans in the big-money Super League era? A well-run club from a small provincial city playing attractive football on a modest budget for a loyal coach to lift a first top-level trophy for 61 years.AdvertisementLeverkusen coach Xabi Alonso must now lift his players for the German Cup final on Saturday.
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