By Daily Sports Nigeria on May 14, 2024

Super Eagles head coach, Finidi George, and the Technical Director of the Nigeria Football Federation, Austin Eguaveon, have heaped praises on Atalanta forward, Ademola Lookman, after scoring a historic hat-trick which fired his club to their first European triumph and first major title in 61 years, The PUNCH reports.

Lookman became the first man to score a hat-trick in the Europa League final on Wednesday as Atalanta shocked Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 to end the newly-crowned German champions’ 51-game unbeaten run at the Dublin Arena.

The Nigerian opened the scoring for Atalanta in the 12th minute and added the second 14 minutes later to secure a 2-0 lead into the break while he sealed the win in the second half with another emphatic left-footed strike to make Atalanta the first Italian team to win the Europa League.

Spurred by his heroics, Finidi, who was recently unveiled by the NFF as the new head coach of the Super Eagles, hailed the 26-year-old’s performance while also applauding his compatriots, Victor Boniface and Nathan Tella, who featured for Leverkusen.

“Watching Ademola Lookman, Nathan Tella and Victor Boniface in the Europa League final was a thing of joy and national pride. Well done, guys. And what a performance that was from Lookman!,” Finidi wrote on X.

Lookman’s first Eagles game came under Eguavoen during the two-legged 2022 World Cup qualifiers against Ghana in 2022, and the ex-international couldn’t be prouder of the England-born player.

“March 25 2022. The day I gave Ademola Lookman his national debut for Nigeria, 1000 kilometres away in Kumasi. Fast forward two years, he’s starred at the AFCON in Ivory Coast and become the first player to score a hat-trick in a UEFA club final,” Eguavoen noted.

Since his debut, Lookman has played 21 times for Nigeria, scoring six goals having grown to be one of the most influential members of the Super Eagles in two years.

He is expected to be back in the team for next month’s 2026 World Cup qualifiers against South Africa (June 7) and Benin Republic (June 10).

Source Punch Ng

Posted May 24, 2024

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