Ade…mola mia: Lookman’s consecration on the most important night for Bergamo

Dublin (Ireland). It was the first purchase wanted and sponsored by Lee Congerton, who had already wanted to bring him to Leicester. Today the Welsh manager is no longer part of Atalanta, he has taken other paths, but somewhere in Saudi Arabia he too probably celebrated, sketching more than a simple smile. Ademola Lookman in two years he conquered theAtalanta and the Atalanta players with his goals, which have the characteristic of being particularly heavy.

A hat-trick in a European final has not been seen since 1975, when German Jupp Heynckes won the UEFA Cup for Borussia Mönchengladbach. Almost fifty years later it is up to the boy who grew up in London and with solid Nigerian roots to paint his masterpiece in a competition in which, as always, he decided the matches. But this is nothing new.

You’re back in the round of 16 against Sporting, who took the lead in the first half in Bergamo after a 1-1 draw in the first leg. Who is there to take the chestnuts out of the fire at the far post and restore parity? Here you are. And who scores the goal that unlocks the return match against Marseille? Exactly. We could also mention the 3-1 against Fiorentina in the Coppa Italia semi-final if that wasn’t enough, but it probably is.

Of his 30 goals in two years with Atalanta, well over half were decisive in impacting the result, giving the Dea the lead or in some cases allowing them to equalise. Curiously, the total figure of the Nerazzurri centers is equal to that put together in the previous 6 seasons.

“When he came to us he was halfway between a winger and a winger,” he recalled Gasperini in the press conference, “but near the goal he has the ability to shoot immediately.” Maybe he still is somewhere in between, in some ways: the only certainty is that Lookman has an advantage that few footballers have and that is his ability to score decisive goals at the right times. And he is never taken for granted.

The secret? “Gasperini made me see football in a different way, Bergamo gave me the calm to concentrate and think about football,” he admitted at the end of the match, while cuddling the ball signed by all his teammates that he brought on the bus. Exactly like in the 1963 Italian Cup, when Domenghini knocked out Torino.

61 years later, here is Ademola, known as Mola. Like ‘Mola mia’. Another sign of destiny. Atalanta is his happy island, because from a footballing point of view they gave him what Leipzig, Everton, Fulham and Leicester were unable to find. The hypotheses on a possible future transfer are now abounding, especially considering the appeal that an English player has for the Premier League, but it is a prospect that at the moment only affects him relatively, because Lookman is enjoying his Nerazzurri present, his beautiful Nerazzurri present.