Atalanta coach, Gian Piero Gasperini, prays for an early exit for Nigeria at the forthcoming Africa Cup of Nations tournament next so as to have Ademola Lookman back with his team, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
Gasperini also hopes that Lookman who was included in Nigeria’s final squad for the tournament doesn’t get injured at the tourney following the winger’s match winning heroics for Atalanta in their 1-0 win over Lecce at the Gewiss Stadium in Bergamo on Saturday.
The 26-year-old is one of the eight debutants listed by coach Jose Peseiro for the AFCON billed to kick off from January 13 to February 11.
It took a daisy-cutter strike in the 50th minute from Lookman to secure a ninth Serie A win for Atalanta who now occupies sixth place in the log ahead of the game involving Juventus and Roma.
His strike was his seventh in 18 league games and his final contribution before leaving for the AFCON duty with Nigeria, leaving Atalanta a little short-staffed in attack.
“It was a good game, unfortunately Lookman will fly out tomorrow, but we have Muriel, Scamacca, De Ketelaere, Miranchuk and Toure. It will be an opportunity for them,” Gasperini told DAZN.
“I don’t want to act like I’m wishing Nigeria don’t do well, but naturally we hope Lookman isn’t away for too long. Above all, we hope he doesn’t get injured.”
“We struggled in the final 10 minutes, but Lecce deserves the credit for that. It’s never easy, they are well organised, so we had to be patient and that also means giving them the occasional scoring opportunity.”
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