It was a night of different strokes for two Nigerian stars in the UEFA Champions League, as Ademola Lookman clashed with his coach at Atalanta of Italy, while Victor Osimhen slammed home a hat trick for Galatasaray of Turkey.
Sports247 reports that, barely 24 hours after Osimhen rained accolades on his coach at Gala, Okan Buruk, the Nigerian hitman proved true to his words with his best ever performance in a European cup match, but his compatriot was doing the reverse in Atalanta’s jersey.
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Ironically, it was Lookman who took over from Osimhen as African Footballer of The Year in 2024, after the Galatasaray hitman won it in 2023, but things keep going downhill this season for the former England youth international, who was desperate to leave Atalanta in the summer.
Wednesday night turned into another nightmare for Lookman, as the former Charlton Athletic, Everton, Fulham and Leicester City winger, who also previously had two stints in Germany, clashed with his coach, Ivan Juric, during Atalanta’s victory over Olympic Marseille of France.
Sports247 reports further that Lookman’s insubordination on being substituted was a sore point, as Atalanta secured a much-needed 1-0 win over Marseille with a controversial 90th minute goal by Lazar Samardzic.
Juric seemed to take offence of something Lookman said as the star walked by and grabbed the Super Eagles winger, before a team official quickly moved in to separate the coach and player.
On the other hand, Osimhen had a night to remember, as he almost single handedly led Galatasaaray onto a revenge of last year’s UEFA Europa League defeat by Ajax Amsterdam of Netherlands, as the Turkish Super Lig champions won away 3-0 on the night.
For his first of the night, Osimhen cleverly got in between Josip Sutalo and Remko Pasveer to head in a cross from Leroy Sane and give Galatasaray the lead, then knocked home a penalty when Youri Baas handled another cross.
Osimhen confidently buried the spot kick into the left corner, then netted his third after Gerald Alders gave away a second penalty, and Gala’s marquee player did the honours that left Ajax hopeless after 78 minutes.
