Lookman’s historic hat-trick fires Atalanta to Europa triumph over Leverkusen

The Germans desperately needed another comeback, which epitomised their season, but were lacking their usual edge against La Dea, who had their cards firmly marked.

Ultimately, Lookman extinguished any hopes of Leverkusen forging a way back into this contest with a ferocious angled finish from the left-hand side after being teed up by Gianluca Scamacca.

The Nigerian wrote the biggest piece of history with his third goal of the game in the 75th minute, which made him the first player to score a hat-trick in the final of the competition. The only player to have come close is Jupp Heynckes, who scored a hat-trick for Mönchengladbach in their first-leg win at home to Twente in the final of the UEFA Cup in 1975. However, it was a two-legged final then, unlike the one-leg approach now applied by European body UEFA.

Lookman’s first-half brace had made him the first African to score a brace in the final of a major European competition before adding the historic third.

The hat-trick took the 26-year-old’s tally to five goals in the Europa League and 15 goals plus eight assists in all competitions this season.

Leverkusen, who have two Nigerians in their squad, Victor Boniface and Nathan Tella, were unbeaten in 51 games before the final, having won the Bundesliga with a 34-game unblemished run, but all that came to an end in their 52nd game against the firepower of the Italians, who were led by Lookman.

Boniface and Tella were introduced in the second half.

Boniface is Leverkusen’s highest goal scorer this season with 21 goals and 10 assists in 33 appearances, but the in-form forward was only introduced at the start of the second half by Xabi Alonso with the hopes of the Nigerian turning things around for them.

The second half was an all-white traffic but Lookman took the shine off his compatriots to help Atalanta win their first title since their Coppa Italia triumph in 1963.

It’s third time lucky for Lookman, after scoring three goals to help Nigeria reach the AFCON final last February, losing to hosts Ivory Coast, before their Coppa Italia final defeat to Juventus last week.

Now, the former Leicester City man laughs last at the end of the 2023/24 season after the triumph in Dublin, which soothes the pain of losing the 2023 AFCON and the Coppa Italia and now stakes his claim for the Africa Player of The Year Award – which Boniface is also likely to be in contention for.