Ademola Lookman mirrored on his Europa League ultimate heroics by means of insisting he at all times imagined starring on this sort of level when initiation his profession at Charlton.
Lookman turned into the primary participant to attain a last hat-trick within the pageant as Atalanta beat Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 to inflict a primary defeat of the season at the Bundesliga champions.
It’s been a hard exit for the London-born ahead who performs his global soccer for Nigeria.
Lookman struggled to glimmer at Everton and RB Leipzig then retirement Charlton and had mortgage spells at Fulham and Leicester sooner than discovering consistency in Italy beneath veteran Atalanta lecturer Gian Piero Gasperini.
Requested if he ever imagined taking part in this sort of a success high-profile night time, Lookman responded: “Probably yeah. I’ve always had the confidence in my ability to create and score goals, to help my team-mates and assist them.
“The past few years I’ve been able to take my game to a new level on a more consistent basis. Maybe it would have come earlier.
“But it’s come now and I’m pleased with the progress I’ve made. This is just the beginning and I hope for more nights like this and to get better and better. That’s the key.”
Lookman has scored 30 targets in two seasons at Atalanta, however Gasparini admitted he has been stunned by means of the 26-year-old’s building in Bergamo.
He stated: “We had a senior manager at Atalanta who had worked at Leicester and saw that we had the opportunity to bring him in.
“We thought he was a possible useful player for us, but no-one ever imagined that he could really make this much progress.
“He wasn’t overly-prolific in England but I changed his position a little bit and played him in a slightly more attacking role – and now he has achieved something that will remain in the annals of football history.”
Victory gave retro Atalanta most effective the second one trophy of their 116-year historical past, six a long time on from lifting the Coppa Italia in 1963.
Upcoming masterminding Italy’s first win within the pageant since 1999, Gasparini stated: “It’s perhaps one of those footballing fairy tales that very rarely crop up.
“It does give scope for meritocracy and ideas. It shows that it doesn’t only come down to cold, hard numbers and super leagues.
“You can also show faith in other teams that don’t necessarily have huge budgets but can still achieve great things.”
Leverkusen had been getting ready to an invincible season having gained the primary Bundesliga identify of their historical past.
They’d long gone 51 video games unbeaten and can end their marketing campaign by means of taking part in second-tier Kaiserslautern within the German Cup ultimate on Saturday.
Boss Xabi Alonso stated: “We had a bad night, it’s a shame, it really hurts in such an important match. They were really intense and better than us.
“It was not our attitude, it was a football thing. But it’s important how we deal with it because we have another big game on Saturday.
“This hurts for sure, but we must deal with this pain in a positive way.
“It’s quite exceptional what we have achieved and we have to be really proud. It’s painful right now, but it is deserved as well.”
