by Osita Chinedu
Ademola Lookman stunned Dublin and the world by scoring a hat-trick in the UEFA Europa league finals past Bayer Leverkusen to hand Atalanta her first ever European title and a major trophy in over 60 years of trophy drought.
The former Everton man and Nigerian forward opened scoring in the 12th minute through an assist from Zappacosta, his brace came in the 26th minute while the winner and hat-trick was delivered in the 75th minute.
This record-breaking victory offered Lookman his first career hat-trick and also made Atalanta the very first Italian football club to win the Europa League trophy.
The Italian side Atalanta by virtue of this triumph equally brought an end to the unbeaten run of the Bundesliga champions.
Bayer Leverkusen had before this match remained unbeaten in all competitions in the 2023/2024 season and boasts as the only German side to have achieved that feat in the top flight.
Reacting to TNT Sports after the match, Lookman who was held up high (physically) by team mates in the course of celebrations said, “One of the best nights of my life. Amazing performance from the team, we did it, we did it, we did it! Not got much else to say but yeah, fantastic.
“They do always say third time lucky, so yeah it is for us today winning a final at the third attempt this season. I’m just happy we won. We won today so yes, very pleased. “100%! We’ve got to celebrate. We made history tonight.”
