Atalanta forward, Ademola Lookman, has made history by being the first African footballer to score more than two goals in the final of a major UEFA competition.
Lookman also became the third Nigerian player to score in the final of a major UEFA competition, after Alex Iwobi (2019 Europa League) and Joe Aribo (2022 Europa League).
Lookman already grabbed his brace in the opening 25 minutes of Wednesday’s Europa League final against Bayer Leverkusen.
The Nigerian opened the scoring inside 12th minute of the encounter by latching on to a loose inside Bayern’s box 18 to slot in Le Dea first of the night.
He wriggled through Bayern defender before sending a sublime curling effort into the bottom corner for his second of the night in the 26th minute of the the thrilling night.
The former Fulham man then received a pass from his strike partner during a one on one situation, outran a Leverkusen defender before blasting a shot in the top right corner for Atalanta’s third goal of the night and ending Leverkusen’s dream of winning the treble unbeaten this season.
It was Lookman’s first career hat trick and it came in the final of the Europa League against an unbeaten side that had played 51 games unbeaten