Julius OkorieBallon d Or nominee, Ademola Lookman, left no one in doubt that he is still in his killer form on Wednesday night after scoring his first UEFA Champions League goal and providing an assist as Atalanta earned a 3-1 win over Shakhtar Donetsk in Germany.
After a goalless draw against Arsenal in their first game and with only one UCL victory since September 2021, Atalanta proved too hot on the neutral ground of Gelsenkirchen in search of the game’s opening goal.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelIt did not take long before their efforts paid off with Lookman providing a timely assist for Albanian Barat Djimsti to get the needed curtain raiser in the 21st minute.
Rampaging Lookman came close to doubling advantage with a volley some moments later, but he was denied by the crossbar.
However, there was nothing to stop last season’s Europa League final hat-trick hero from finding the back of the net in the 44th minute, as Sead Kolašinac put it on a plate for the Atalanta attacker to sublimely side-foot the ball past Shakhtar goalkeeper Dmytro Riznyk. By the 48th minute, Atalanta had already delivered the third goal and were home and dry.
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Atalanta’s dominance allowed them to take their foot off the gas for the remainder of the evening, as La Dea picked up their first three-point haul of the 2024/25 UCL in style.
Wednesday night’s game was Lookman’s third in the competition, and he now has a goal plus an assist to his name.
It was the Italian club’s first away success in the Champions League in five matches. Lookman who has always been a performer for the national team will be taking his current form to the Super Eagles Camp as the Austin Eguavoen tutored side take on their Libyan counterparts in a double header AFCON qualifier on October 11th and 15th respectively.
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.
