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World football governing body FIFA and Africa football governing organisation CAF have praised Ademola Lookman for his exploits in Atalanta‘s Europa League final victory against Bayer Leverkusen.
The two bodies, in separate posts on social media app X, celebrated Lookman for his hat-trick heroics that sealed the title for the Italians.
FIFA posted a picture of Lookman in the Super Eagles jersey and captioned it with the Nigerian flag and an emoji representing power or energy.
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Lookman scored all three goals as Atalanta whitewashed previously-unbeaten Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium in Wednesday night.
The Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) also posted two tweets showering encomiums on the 26-year-old.
After scoring his first two goals on Wednesday night, CAF posted Lookman’s picture with the caption: “🇳🇬🦅 Demo for Show! Look Man wey know road… 🔥🔥”
Lookman is a hero in Bergamo following his exploits for Atalanta
The Nigerian striker scored with an incisive finish in the 12th minute to set Atalanta on course for a huge win. Fourteen minutes later, he netted a sublime, curling effort to double the advantage.
Credit must be given to Gian Piero Gasperini who was the better tactician on the night. The Italian outsmarted Xabi Alonso whose side had won the Bundesliga title unbeaten – the first-ever team to do so.
Leverkusen looked overwhelmed for a large part of the encounter as La Dea was all over them. Werkself had conceded first a number of matches during the season and had always found a way back to draw or win, but that was not to be the case here.
Lookman nailed the German outfit by completing his hat-trick with a spectacular left-footed shot in the 75th minute. It was simply unbelievable stuff. The third goal totally silenced the section of Leverkusen fans in the stadium, a stark contrast to the jubilant Atalanta faithfuls.
After completing his hat-trick, CAF posted another picture of Lookman similar to the one posted by FIFA, designing it with three balls. It was captioned “Are you looking at this man?”
The title success was the first-ever European trophy for Atalanta and their first title since 1963 (61 years ago).
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