Ademola Lookman mimics Cristiano Ronaldo's iconic 'Siuu' after scoring hat-trick for Atalanta in the Europa League final
Atalanta forward Ademola Lookman paid homage to Al-Nassr superstar Cristiano Ronaldo by copying his celebration in the Europa League final. The Nigeria international bagged a sensational hat-trick in the summit clash, guiding the Serie A side to a 3-0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen with a hat-trick.
The attacker pulled out the iconic 'Siuu' after the game in a video posted by the club on their Instagram handle.
Atalanta took home their first trophy since 1963 and just their second in club history, convincingly beating a rampant Bayer Leverkusen side. Xabi Alonso's men were on the longest unbeaten streak in European football history, going over 50 games without a defeat across all competitions. However, they came up against a resilient La Dea side headlined by a fantastic performance from Lookman.
He opened the scoring in the 12th minute with a great finish, beating Exequiel Palacios to a cross from Davide Zappacosta to make it 1-0. He scored again in the 29th minute, nutmegging Granit Xhaka before unleashing a bending shot into the bottom corner. He completed his hat-trick in the second half, getting past Edmond Tapsoba before firing home.
Roberto Martinez opens up on selecting Cristiano Ronaldo in national squad
Portugal national team boss Roberto Martinez suggested that Cristiano Ronaldo's strong season in the Saudi Pro League merited his selection to the side. The Spaniard pointed to his statistical output and his playstyle as contributing factors to the decision.
"As for Cristiano Ronaldo, I think it’s better to talk about statistics. A player who scores 42 goals in 41 games for his club shows continuity, a physical ability to always be fit and quality in front of goal that we really like and need,” Martinez told reporters as quoted by Goal.com.
“We don’t make choices based on where the players play. We want to create the best team and call the 26 players who make up the best team. We monitor the players’ individual performance and the role that they have in the locker room. There are players who have secondary roles in important locker rooms and others who have important roles in less strong locker rooms. Since March 2023 until now, we have a lot of information,” he added.
The Portuguese superstar has been in sensational form for Al-Nassr, bagging 42 goals and 13 assists in 42 games across all competitions. He is Saudi Pro League's top goalscorer, firing his side to a second-place finish.
He has also performed well for the Selecao, contributing to their perfect run in the Euro qualifiers where they won 10 games out of 10. He featured in nine of those games, scoring 10 times.