{"id":900005,"date":"2026-04-18T13:17:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T18:17:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/18\/his-touch-was-amazing-lookman-reveals-what-decided-atleticos-ucl-win-over-barcelona\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T13:17:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T18:17:19","slug":"his-touch-was-amazing-lookman-reveals-what-decided-atleticos-ucl-win-over-barcelona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/18\/his-touch-was-amazing-lookman-reveals-what-decided-atleticos-ucl-win-over-barcelona\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cHis touch was amazing\u201d \u2013\u00a0Lookman reveals what decided Atl\u00e9tico\u2019s UCL win over Barcelona"},"content":{"rendered":"

Soccer <\/p>\n

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\"Soccer<\/p>\n

Ademola Lookman of Atletico de Madrid looks on. Copyright: iMAGOxOscarxJ.xBarrosox<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Ademola Lookman has praised Antoine Griezmann for the brilliant pass that led to\u00a0Atl\u00e9tico\u00a0Madrid\u2019s goal, after they booked\u00a0their spot\u00a0in the\u00a0semifinals of the\u00a0UEFA Champions League\u00a0on Tuesday,\u00a0Soccernet.ng<\/u><\/a>\u00a0reports.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite\u00a0suffering a\u00a02-1\u00a0defeat\u00a0to Barcelona on the night,\u00a0Atl\u00e9tico\u00a0progressed with a 3-2 aggregate\u00a0result, having done the damage with a 2-0 win from the first leg.<\/p>\n

Lookman scored what turned out to be the decisive goal of the tie<\/u><\/a>, but the move was\u00a0started\u00a0by Griezmann\u2019s intelligence and technique.\u00a0After dropping\u00a0deep into midfield, the Frenchman produced a clever pass to Marcos Llorente, who\u00a0then\u00a0delivered a cross that\u00a0the Nigerian forward\u00a0calmly\u00a0put\u00a0past Joan Garcia.<\/p>\n

\"Soccer
Antoine Griezmann and Ademola Lookman of Atletico Madrid. Copyright: IMAGOxNewsxImages<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That strike ended up being Atl\u00e9tico\u2019s only goal\u00a0of the night, but it proved enough to send them into the semifinals for the first time in nine years,\u00a0where they will face Arsenal<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Speaking to\u00a0ESPN<\/u><\/a>, Lookman\u00a0reflected on the build-up,\u00a0hailing\u00a0Griezmann\u2019s\u00a0important role in the goal.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe pass to Grizi makes the play and of course, his touch was amazing. It opens space for Marcos to run into. Then it\u2019s just for me to sprint as fast as I can to get on the end of the cross which I did, and thankfully I scored. I\u2019m really happy\u201d, the Nigerian forward said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Soccer Lookman targets Copa del Rey success\u00a0with Atl\u00e9tico<\/h2>\n
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Ademola Lookman celebrates a goal during the Spanish League Real Madrid and Atletico de Madrid Copyright: xOscarxJ.xBarrosox<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lookman, who joined\u00a0Atl\u00e9tico\u00a0from Atalanta for\u00a0\u20ac35 million\u00a0during the winter transfer window, now has the chance to win his first trophy with the club when they face Real Sociedad in the Copa del Rey final on Saturday.<\/p>\n

The Nigerian forward has been key to their run\u00a0to the final,\u00a0scoring twice and providing two assists in just three appearances in the competition\u00a0and will be\u00a0hoping to deliver again on the big stage.<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old could also make history\u00a0on the night. If he manages to win the trophy, he would become only the second Nigerian to win the tournament after Emmanuel Amuneke, who lifted the trophy with Barcelona in 1997.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Soccer
Ademola Lookman of Atletico Madrid and Antony of Real Betis during a Copa del Rey clash (Photo by Atleti X)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If\u00a0Lookman\u00a0also finds\u00a0the\u00a0back of the net in the final, he would\u00a0also\u00a0be the first Nigerian to score in a Copa del Rey final since Finidi George did so for Real Betis in that same 1997\u00a0edition.<\/p>\n

Winning the title would strengthen his importance to the team and give\u00a0them\u00a0a big confidence lift going into the final weeks of the season, especially with a Champions League semifinal clash against Arsenal still to come.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\"<!--Ayomide Oguntimehin” src=”https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/thumbor\/ycGEJDr9VZlpO_5zujn3ZdvICxA=\/150×150\/smart\/https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.soccernet.ng%2Fmain%2F2024%2F12%2FAyomide-Oguntimehin-pics.jpg” height=”80″ width=”80″>\t\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\tAyomide Oguntimehin\t\t\t\t<\/a>
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\n\t\t\t\tAyomide Oguntimehin is a CAF-accredited sports journalist and Chief Editor at Soccernet.ng. He has interviewed Super Eagles stars like William Troost-Ekong, Taiwo Awoniyi, Bright Osayi-Samuel, and Ademola Lookman, and is known for breaking major transfer stories.<\/p>\n

Ayomide has worked with Sports Brief, Naija News and served as Social Lead Editor at Legit.ng. He has also featured on Goal, TVC News, Sports Mole, and Milan News24. He holds a Master\u2019s degree and is currently pursuing a PhD. Follow Ayomide on X (formerly Twitter): @ayo_oguntimehin\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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

Soccer Ademola Lookman of Atletico de Madrid looks on. Copyright: iMAGOxOscarxJ.xBarrosox Ademola Lookman has praised Antoine Griezmann for the brilliant pass that led to\u00a0Atl\u00e9tico\u00a0Madrid\u2019s goal, after they booked\u00a0their spot\u00a0in the\u00a0semifinals of the\u00a0UEFA Champions League\u00a0on Tuesday,\u00a0Soccernet.ng\u00a0reports. Despite\u00a0suffering a\u00a02-1\u00a0defeat\u00a0to Barcelona on the night,\u00a0Atl\u00e9tico\u00a0progressed with a 3-2 aggregate\u00a0result, having done the damage with a 2-0 win from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":900006,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44028,2005,32578],"tags":[129246,5844],"class_list":{"0":"post-900005","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-his","8":"category-soccer","9":"category-touch","10":"tag-his","11":"tag-touch"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900005","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=900005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/900006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=900005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=900005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=900005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}