Atalanta sensation Ademola Lookman ha broken his silence on his missed penalty against Club Brugge in Champions League knockout phase playoff second leg on Wednesday, MySportDab reports.
The Nigerian striker and reigning African Footballer of the year earned the wrath of his manager Del Piero Gasperini for missing a spot-kick in the match.
Atalanta were shockingly down by three unreplied goals before Lookman who was just returning from a lengthy injury layoff came on and scored to reignite comeback hopes.
Lookman’s goal came just a few minutes after he was subbed on. While the brilliant showing saw the player cement his status as a key and crucial player for the Bergamo-based side, he would suddenly turn into a villain a few moments later.
With the score being 3-1, Atalanta won a spot-kick. Lookman took the spot-kick and missed it.
After the game, his coach Del Piero Gasperini went all out on the Nigerian attacker, publicly slamming him for missing the penalty.
Speaking in post-match interview, Gasperini described Lookman as the worst penalty takers and questioned why he didn’t allow another player to take the penalty.
Now, Lookman has released a lengthy statement on his social media handle, expressing his disappointment on the coach’s comment and also making it clear that he did not forcefully took the penalty as the coach assumed.
His full statement, available on his X handle, reads;
“It saddens me on a day like this to have to write this statement – most of all because of what we have achieved together as a team and as a city,” he wrote on social media.
“Being singled out in the manner I have been not only hurts but feels deeply disrespectful, not least because of the immense hard work and commitment I have always put in each and every day to help bring success to this club and to the incredible fans of Bergamo.
“In truth, I have dealt with many difficult moments during my time here the majority of which I have never spoken about because in my opinion the team must always be protected and must come first. This makes what happened last night even more hurtful.
“Along with our incredible fans, we as a team are hurting too with last night’s result. During the match the designated penalty taker instructed me to take the penalty; and to support the team I took responsibility in the moment to do so.”
Most fans believed Gasperini took it too far going public to blast the player for missing the penalty.
Lookman remains the club’s best performer this season with 10 league goals plus five assists in 19 appearances and five UCL goals plus one assist in seven matches.
