Julius OkorieNigeria’s Ademola Lookman rose to the occasion as usual for Atalanta in the UEFA Champions league on Tuesday night.
The Nigeria international who has become a must play in Atalanta scored a 65th minute goal to increase goal tally for the homers after teammate Charles Ketelaere had converted a penalty in two minutes of added time in the first half.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelIt was however not a night to sing victory song for Atalanta as visiting Real Madrid were in their best element, a good day that saw three musketeers of Mbappe, Bellingham and Vinicius Jnr all in a superb mood.
Mbappe who had received a number of criticisms recently for below par performance opened scoring for Madrid in the 10th minute of the match. Vinicius Jr who has been sidelined by injury forcing him to miss a number of matches for Madrid, proved he was back in business with a 56th minute goal just as equally returnee Jude Bellingham increased the tally three minutes later thus handing the Carlo Ancelotti led boys a vital away victory.
The victory also put a halt on Atalanta’s winning streak that has seen the Italian club go five games unbeaten with 15 goals scored to show for their clinical finish.
READ ALSO:Champions League: Lookman Good To Go As Atalanta Hosts Real Madrid
This result sees Real Madrid move up to 18th place in the table, while Atalanta dropped to 9th. Madrid host RB Salzburg next in the Champions League, while Atalanta face SK Sturm Graz.
Primebusiness.africa reports that a new league format has been adopted for the UEFA Champions League which makes the competition even tougher.
Thirty six clubs are battling for the survival and in pursuit of laurels in this year’s Champion’s League. Despite defeat, Lookman’s performance remains satisfactory even as he looks forward to possible victory at the forthcoming CAF Player of the year award.
In other matches played Tuesday night Liverpool continue to consolidate with a lone goal victory away to Girona, a game that saw Mohamed Salah converting a penalty in the 63rd minute.
Nigeria’s Nathan Tella was in action as Leverkusen ran away with a lone goal victory over visiting Inter Milan.
German Budesliga giants Bayern Munich were ruthless against Shaktar with a 5-1 thrashing.
Top among matches that will take the stage tonight include Manchester City against Juventus in what some have dubbed hard nut to crack.
Manchester City may not have been at their best recently, but have been tipped to fight to the finish tonight against Juve.
Arsenal host AS Monaco just as Young Boys who were walloped 6-1 by Atalanta in their last Champions League outing will be hoping to avoid another demolition as the face VfB Stuttgart
Julius Okorie is Chief Sports and Entertainment Correspondent for Prime Business Africa. He began his journalism career with the Champion Newspaper and Sporting Champion and later moved on to Daily Independent and the Nation Newspapers. Okorie joined Prime Business Africa in 2024 bringing on board 20 years of experience in writing investigative news on Sports and Entertainment. His well researched and highly informative articles on Sports Business and general entertainment are followed by a wide range of audience.
