Photo Credit - Atalanta.
Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini has come out to explain that his comments that Ademola Lookman was “one of the worst penalty takers he has ever seen”, were never intended to offend the Nigerian winger.
The Italian coach openly criticised Lookman following his penalty miss during their UEFA Champions League 3-1 defeat against Club Brugge at Gewiss Stadium on Tuesday.
“Lookman was not supposed to take that penalty, he is one of the worst penalty takers I've ever seen. He has a frankly terrible record even in training, he converts very few of them," said Gasperini after the defeat.
"Retegui and De Ketelaere were there, but Lookman in a moment of enthusiasm after scoring decided to take the ball and that was a gesture I did not appreciate at all.”
In his response, the CAF Footballer of the Year reacted to manager Gasperini’s backlash taking to social media to speak about the situation, and describing it as “disrespectful”.
However, Gasperini, while addressing a press conference on Saturday pointed out the similarities to an incident in Udinese’s 1-0 Serie A win over Lecce on Friday where Lorenzo Lucca scored a penalty despite not being the designated taker.
“He had an extraordinary impact. My words were never meant to be offensive,” Gasperini said at a press conference via TMW. “Yesterday, in Udinese-Lecce, we saw what could have turned into a global spectacle, but fortunately, the players let it go,” he said.
“I would have liked to see a great player like him [Lookman] make a gesture toward [Charles] De Ketelaere, saying, ‘Come on, take the ball, put it in. He could become a penalty taker, adding another scoring ability. But I almost feel like there’s a narrative being pushed that Atalanta are in chaos when the reality is quite different.”
Lookman has been one of Atalanta’s standout players top this season, scoring a hat-trick in the UEFA Europa League final against Bayer Leverkusen to secure the club’s first-ever European title. He has 15 goals and seven assists in 27 matches across all competitions.
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