Super Eagles forward Ademola Lookman is set to miss Atalanta’s highly anticipated Champions League encounter with Spanish La Liga giants Barcelona after sustaining a knee injury during training on Tuesday, Soccernet.football reports.
Football journalist Fabrizio Romano reports that doctors will conduct additional tests in the coming days to assess the injury and formulate a recovery plan in consultation with the player and the club.
Lookman’s injury comes at a crucial time for Atalanta, just before their decisive match against the Blaugrana, which could determine their automatic qualification for the round of 16. The Nerazzurri, who currently sit in 7th place on the Champions League table, must secure victory against Barca in order to ensure automatic qualification.
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Arguably Atalanta’s best player this season, the reigning African Mens’ Player of the Year award winner has registered 20 goal contributions in 25 appearances for Gian Piero Gasperini’s side this term. He has made five of those contributions in the Champions League, tallying four goals and an assist in six appearances.
While Lookman’s absence is certainly a big blow to the men from Bergamo, manager Gasperini remains confident in his side’s ability to weather the storm in Spain, insisting that their approach will not change due to the setback.
“We are not going to play with 10 men,” Gasperini told Atalanta’s official channel. “Clearly, Lookman’s absence tomorrow will be a pity both for us and for him as well.
“These are top-tier games, and whenever you play in these kinds of matches, regardless of the outcome, they always give you something valuable and teach you lessons for the road ahead.
“We’ll see. As I said before, our aim is to take to the pitch what we do best.”
Beyond missing Wednesday’s clash against Barca, Lookman could potentially miss out on a number of Atalanta’s upcoming Serie A games. As we await a diagnosis of the extent of damage the Nigerian has suffered, Gasperini and Atalanta will be desperately hoping their talisman can shrug this setback off in no time.
