Ademola Lookman put up a man-of-the-match performance as Atalanta beat Fiorentina to book their place in the final of the Coppa Italia on Wednesday evening.
The Super Eagles forward came off the bench to score and set up another as Gian Piero Gasperini’s side overturned a 1-0 defeat in the first leg to advance to the final via a 4-2 aggregate victory.
Having narrowly lost in the first leg against Fiorentina, Gasperini named an attacking line-up for the reverse fixture at the Gewiss Stadium in Bergamo, with Gianluca Scamacca and Charles De Ketelaere leading the line, while Lookman had to do with a place among the substitutes .
By the time the 26-year-old replaced Ederson in the 70th minute, the scoreline was 1-1 on the night and 1-2 on aggregate after Lucas Martinez had called out Teun Koopmeiners’ first-half strike.
Ademola Lookman cops 17 goal contributions this season
Scamacca, however, gave Atalanta some hope when he scored from a spectacular acrobatic effort to make it 2-1, drawing the hosts level on aggregate. The rest of the night belonged to Lookman, who made sure the tie was over with two crucial stoppage-time contributions.
The former Everton winger scored Atalanta’s third goal in the 94th minute to put them ahead on aggregate, after finishing off a swift counter-attacking move that saw him fire a left-footed shot into the bottom corner.
Although the celebrations were delayed as VAR checked if Lookman was offside, the goal was ultimately awarded after he was found to have been marginally onside. Four minutes later, the Super Eagles’ AFCON hero helped to kill off any hopes of a Fiorentina comeback when he set up Mario Pasalic to make it 4-1 as Atalanta set up a mouthwatering clash against Juventus in the Coppa Italia final.
Meanwhile, Lookman has also now recorded 10 goals and seven assists in all competitions this season for Atalanta, who are also in the semi-final of the UEFA Europa League after eliminating Liverpool in the previous round.
