Ademola Lookman was brutally censured by his own manager after missing a penalty for Atalanta on Tuesday night as they crashed out of the Champions League.
The striker scored within 42 seconds of being introduced on his return from injury in the second half but was unable to reverse the slide.
After losing 2-1 in Belgium, Atalanta lost 3-1 to Club Bruges on the night to cap off a damning evening for Italian football, with AC Milan also exiting to Feyenoord.
In the 61st minute, Lookman had the opportunity to draw another goal back from the penalty spot.
However, former Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet saved his effort, which was struck well but quite centrally. At full time, Atalanta boss Gian Piero Gasperini issued a startlingly harsh put-down.
‘Ademola Lookman is one of the worst penalty takers I’ve ever seen,’ said the veteran manager.
‘He wanted to take the penalty after scoring a goal, he took the ball despite (Mateo) Retegui and (Charles) De Keteleare available to take it… I didn’t like what Lookman did.
‘Lookman wasn’t supposed to take the penalty. Even in training he doesn’t have a good rate of scoring from the spot.’
Fulham fans with a decent memory might be inclined to agree with Gasperini. In November 2020, the forward had a chance to level in the 98th minute against West Ham, but dinked a limp panenka into the hands of Lukasz Fabianski, later admitting his devastation.
Retegui is Atalanta’s regular penalty taker, having converted two of his three spot-kicks in Serie A this campaign, but Lookman has also taken and scored one.
He scored a hat-trick in last season’s Europa League final triumph against Bayer Leverkusen and is widely acknowledged as one of the brightest sparks in the team.
The Nigerian had missed their last four games due to a knee injury but was brought on at half-time and scored within 42 seconds to give the Italians a glimmer of hope.
He is having another outstanding season for La Dea, having scored 15 goals and made seven assists.
Despite another Champions League disappointment, they are in with a shout for the Serie A title, sitting third and five points behind Napoli.
