Ademola Lookman made little impact from the bench as Atlético Madrid fell to a 3-0 defeat against relegation-threatened Rayo Vallecano at Estadio Butarque on Sunday, Footynaija.com reports.
The Nigerian international, who had scored twice and provided two assists across his previous three matches, spent the opening 63 minutes on the sidelines. Diego Simeone made nine changes from the team that thrashed Barcelona 4-0 three days earlier. Lookman was among those rested, along with Julián Álvarez, Antoine Griezmann, and most of the usual defensive unit.
Atlético were already in trouble before Lookman was introduced. Fran Pérez opened the scoring in the 40th minute after Andrei Ratiu drove down the right flank. Óscar Valentín doubled the lead just before halftime, reacting quickest after Jan Oblak pushed away Isi Palazón’s shot.
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Lookman replaced Clément Lenglet in the 63rd minute with Atlético trailing 2-0. Simeone reshuffled again, pairing Lookman with Álvarez and Marcos Llorente in attack, but the changes failed to alter the flow of the match. The capital club struggled for fluency and penetration in the final third.
Nico González remained Atlético’s most active outlet, testing his luck with efforts from range. Rayo, though, stayed compact at the back, with Nobel Mendy and Florian Lejeune holding firm against Alexander Sørloth and Álvarez. Lookman saw little of the ball and found few openings against a well-drilled defensive block.
Any chance of a recovery ended in the 76th minute when Mendy headed in Álvaro García’s delivery from a short corner to make it 3-0.
The defeat means Atlético are fourth in La Liga, 15 points adrift of leaders Real Madrid. It also stretched their winless run in the league to three matches. For Lookman, it was a second straight league defeat following his move from Atalanta, while his Copa del Rey displays remained unchanged.
