Atalanta talisman Ademola Lookman has the opportunity to become the fourth Nigerian player to win the UEFA Super Cup, following Nwankwo Kanu, Finidi George, and Celestine Babayaro, when the Italian club faces Real Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup final in Poland on Wednesday (today).
By doing so, he would have engraved his name on another page of the club’s history, having helped them win their first European trophy in the Europa League in May.
Atalanta are in their first UEFA Cup final due to Lookman’s hat-trick, which propelled them to a 3-0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen and gave Gian Gasperini’s team their second piece of silverware in 117 years.
With Atalanta still managing to hold on to the 26-year-old despite receiving multiple bids from Europe and Saudi Arabia, they appear prepared to capture another major scalp in European football as they seek to prevent Los Blancos from becoming the first team to win six Super Cup championships.
“It’s not just me, but I think the whole squad is excited about the occasion. We deserve to be here through our hard work and perseverance. Wednesday night is another chance to show that,” Lookman said during the pre-match interview.
“Madrid is a top team of top players who are ready at any moment. I don’t think there’s any good time to face Real Madrid. Obviously, they have their powers, but we also have quality.
“We’re very pleased to have our fans here to make the trip. We’ll do everything in our power to win the game. We’re all looking forward to working hard,” he added.
Although Madrid, like former Champions League winners, appear to be clear favourites to win, the Champions League winner’s tradition of winning the Super Cup does not always hold true.
The UCL champions have won 28 of the 48 editions, just eight more than clubs from the Europa League, including Lookman and his teammates.
Atalanta coach Gasperini praised Lookman’s heroics in the Europa League final and believes his club can give another fantastic performance in Poland despite their underdog position.
“We really wanted Ademola Lookman’s third goal, because even when we were 2-0 up, we were well aware of Bayer’s ability to turn around a game, like they had done so many times throughout the season. When we got to 3-0, we allowed ourselves to believe we had done enough to win the cup.
“We were the underdogs against Liverpool, maybe against Sporting CP too at the start. Everyone thought they would win—and in the end, we faced them four times (group stage, then round of 16). I should say that being the underdogs worked in our favour to a certain extent; it brought out the best in us.”
In terms of history, Lookman is the first player to score three goals in a UEFA Europa League final.
His first-half brace in that game made him the first African to score twice in a major European competition final, and he added a historic third goal.
He might potentially follow in the footsteps of three previous Nigerian champions.
Nigerian participation in the UEFA Super Cup began with Kanu and Finidi, who scored in the second leg of Ajax’s 5-1 aggregate victory over Real Zaragoza in the 1995 final.
Celestine Babayaro also played an important role for Chelsea in 1998, when they defeated Real Madrid 1-0 in the Stade Louis II in Monaco, thanks to a late Gus Poyet goal.
A win tonight will strengthen Lookman’s case for this year’s CAF Player of the Year Award, after he scored three goals to help Nigeria reach the AFCON final in February.
He finished the season with 16 goals and nine assists across all competitions.
