{"id":828914,"date":"2025-02-22T10:12:42","date_gmt":"2025-02-22T16:12:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/22\/innocent-bystander-former-liverpool-defender-weighs-in-on-lookman-gasperini-feud\/"},"modified":"2025-02-22T10:12:42","modified_gmt":"2025-02-22T16:12:42","slug":"innocent-bystander-former-liverpool-defender-weighs-in-on-lookman-gasperini-feud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/22\/innocent-bystander-former-liverpool-defender-weighs-in-on-lookman-gasperini-feud\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cInnocent bystander\u201d \u2013 Former Liverpool defender weighs in on Lookman-Gasperini feud"},"content":{"rendered":"

Soccer <\/p>\n

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Former Liverpool and Scotland defender, Stephen Nicol, has shared his thoughts on the ongoing feud between Atalanta\u2019s head coach and Super Eagles star, Ademola Olajade Lookman, Soccernet.ng<\/a> reports.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Nigerian<\/a> forward missed the first leg of Atalanta\u2019s UEFA Champions League clash against Club Brugge, but made a comeback in the second half of the second leg.<\/p>\n

Lookman<\/a> found the back within twenty seconds of coming on, becoming the fastest-ever substitute in the second half of a Champions League game to score a goal.<\/p>\n

Atalanta BC vs Club Brugge Ademola Lookman celebrates after scoring a goal during the Knockout phase play-offs of Champions League 2024-25, game at Gewiss stadium in Bergamo, Italy, on February 18, 2025. [Photo Credit\/ Imago].<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Get Our Sports News First \u2013\u00a0Join Our WhatsApp Channel Now!<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n

A few minutes later, the former Everton missed a penalty kick, and after the game, Gasperini<\/a> labelled Lookman as the worst penalty taker he\u2019s ever seen.<\/p>\n

Lookman<\/a>, responding to the coach\u2019s statement, published a response on social media, making it clear he didn\u2019t like the way he was singled out.<\/p>\n

Nicol, who now works as a pundit with ESPN, admitted the Nigerian is well within his rights to have hit back at his coach.<\/p>\n

Simon Mignolet stops a penalty taken by Ademola Lookman during a game between Atalanta and Belgian Club Brugge KV, on Tuesday 18 February 2025 in Bergamo, Italy. [Photo Credit\/ Imago].<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\u201cAt the same time, the man who was supposed to take the penalty, if I\u2019m the coach he\u2019s my first port of call, \u2018Why are you not taking the penalty? I\u2019ve told you you\u2019re the penalty taker. The second port of call is the captain; you\u2019re the captain for a reason, so on the field, when I can\u2019t get anybody\u2019s ear, then you follow my instructions,\u201d Nicol said on ESPN UK<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cQuite honestly, the only person who is innocent to me is Lookman himself because if the guy who\u2019s meant to take it doesn\u2019t take it, somebody else has to take it, so Lookman said I\u2019ll take it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Ademola Lookman penalty saved by goalkeeper Simon Mignolet during the Uefa Champions League match between Atalanta BC and Club Brugge at Gewiss Stadium in Bergamo, north Italy \u2013 Tuesday, February 18 , 2025. [Photo Credit\/ Imago].<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\u201cLookman\u2019s actually an innocent bystander here. It\u2019s the guy who was supposed to take it (De Ketelaere) and the captain on the field (Tol\u00f3i).\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI never saw the game, but with the amount of time Gasperini should have done something because you\u2019re 100 per cent looking to make sure as a coach that the right guy is taking it,\u201d the former Liverpool defender concluded.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"Soccer
Ademola Lookman bags the 2024 CAF POTY Award. [Photo Credit\/ X].<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lookman\u2019s relationship with Gasperini has apparently hit rock-bottom, and the former Everton forward is set to consider his options at the end of the season as he looks to leave Atalanta.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\"Soccer\t\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\tAdefolahan Guerreiro\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t<\/h3>\n

\n\t\t\t\tAdefolahan is a multilingual journalist and writer at Soccernet Nigeria.<\/p>\n

With a track record of involvement in College sports, Adefolahan is focused on crafting engaging football content and utilising his language skills and extensive sports knowledge to enhance content accessibility for a global audience.<\/p>\n

He has interviewed Nigerian stars like Finidi George, Junior Lokosa, and Abraham Onahi Ogbu.\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>Adefolahan Guerreiro<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Soccer Former Liverpool and Scotland defender, Stephen Nicol, has shared his thoughts on the ongoing feud between Atalanta\u2019s head coach and Super Eagles star, Ademola Olajade Lookman, Soccernet.ng reports. The Nigerian forward missed the first leg of Atalanta\u2019s UEFA Champions League clash against Club Brugge, but made a comeback in the second half of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":828915,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38017,40805,2005],"tags":[141913,110163],"class_list":{"0":"post-828914","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bystander","8":"category-innocent","9":"category-soccer","10":"tag-bystander","11":"tag-innocent"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=828914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/828915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=828914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=828914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=828914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}