Ademola Lookman has become the first player to score a hat-trick in a single leg UEFA Cup or Europa League final.
The former Premier League winger is only the sixth star to score a hat-trick in the final of a major UEFA competition, and the first since Jupp Heynckes’ for Borussia Monchengladbach in the 1975 UEFA Cup.
It also marks his first senior hat-trick of his career.
The Atalanta winger put his side 1-0 up against unbeaten Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen inside 15 minutes as the Italian side battled to slip the script and win their first ever European final.
As if his first finish wasn’t mesmerising enough, Lookman really showed what he had in his locker 15 minutes later.
After picking up the ball just outside the box, the ex-Leicester star danced past Leverkusen’s players, sticking the ball through Xhaka’s legs on his way.
He then burst through to the edge of Bayer’s box before sending a vicious right-footed shot curling into the back of Matej Kovar’s goal.
talkSPORT’s co-commentator for the game Dean Ashton said live from Dublin: “There’s a stunning finish at the end of it, but he just bypasses Xhaka like he’s 91, not 31.
“He jinxes past him, opens his body up, and the finish is so crisp into the corner that [Matej] Kovar cannot get anywhere near it.
“That is stunning from Ademola Lookman.”
He then ensured Atalanta would be lifting their first ever European trophy and he’d be taking home the match ball in the second half, firing in his third in the 75th minute.
“Ademola Lookman, as you should absorb all the claim and adulation because you’ve done something that very, very few of people can even dream of,” Ashton said.
Lookman, who represents Nigeria at international level, is also now the first African player to score two or three times in the final of a major UEFA competition.
He is also the first player to score two or more goals in the Europa League final since Luuk de Jong for Sevilla against Inter Milan in 2020.
No one had scored a hat-trick in a single leg UEFA Cup or Europa League final before Lookman stepped up to write himself and Atalanta into the history books.
News Summary:
- Ademola Lookman makes history as he nets incredible hat-trick for Atalanta in the Europa League final
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