It’s hard to think of two many players your common or garden full-back would like to come up against less than Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka.
Breaking into double figures for both goals and assists in 2023/24 – he hit 20 of the former and 14 of the latter – one of the Premier League’s most fearsome forwards is the absolute master of isolating defenders and breezing past them before fizzing in a shot off either foot.
On Wednesday night, as Bayer Leverkusen’s remarkable 51-game unbeaten run came to an end at the worst possible moment – Xabi Alonso going the same way as Jurgen Klopp did while Atalanta cruised to the Europa League title – a former Everton, Leicester City and Fulham winger was more than deserving the plaudits that came his way like an avalanche of admiration.
Former Everton and Fulham man becomes Europa League legend
Ademola Lookman, author of three very different but equally brilliant goals in a remarkable night in Dublin, became only the fourth player in the history of European competition to score a hat-trick in a one-legged final.
Ferenc Puskas, Pierino Prati, Alfredo di Stefano. That is the company Lookman is keeping these days.
And as Lookman squared up the much-admired Leverkusen defender Edmond Tapsoba, skipped away and lashed a searing finish into the top corner to complete a treble for the ages, Owen Hargreaves was reminded instantly of a man who has made such moments of unstoppable explosiveness his trademark in Arsenal red.
“He’s put in a masterclass in how to set people, shift, bang. That (third strike) is a brilliant goal,” Hargreaves, a Champions League winner with Manchester United in 2008, said on TNT Sport‘s live coverage (22 May, 10pm)
“What a player he is in the one v one. He reminds me of (Buyako) Saka in the way he sets people, gets them off balance, and he’s always got a picture in the way he wants to finish.
“He’s destroyed everybody out there.”
“Magnificent. Absolutely out of this world,” squealed a typically delighted Ally McCoist. “Think about the quality of the finishes we’ve seen!”
Quality indeed. Lookman’s third might not have even been his best. After catching Exequiel Palacios unawares to open the scoring at the far post, the former Charlton Athletic youngster then nutmegged Granit Xhaka before whipping a gorgeous finish into the far corner of Matej Kovar’s net.
The Wandsworth-born 26-year-old showed plenty of glimpses of his undoubted potential at Everton, Leicester and Fulham, even if the abiding memory Cottagers fans have of him is likely to be that Panenka penalty miss back in 2020.
Ademola Lookman hits stunning hat-trick
But, taking his tally to 46 goals or assists in just two seasons as an Atalanta player, you can now add Lookman to a wide-ranging list of players who owe legendary La Dea coach Gian Piero Gasperini an enormous debt of gratitude; the Italian turning yet another ‘good’ player into a truly ‘great’ one.
“We produced a wonderful performance and we needed to do that against such a top side. We scored three splendid goals,” beams Gasperini, the man who almost single-handedly transformed Atalanta from mid-table also-rans into European cup winners while ending a trophy drought that had been ongoing since 1963.
“Nobody imagined that (Lookman) would make this much progress.
“He wasn’t overly prolific in England. I played him in a more attacking role. This season, he has had a great year. Tonight, he achieved something that will remain in the annals of footballing history.
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