This year’s UEFA Europa League final will feature three Super Eagles players as Atalanta and Bayer Leverkusen saw off Olympique Marseille and AS Roma respectively in their semi-final ties.
Super Eagles star Ademola Lookman, who was the star of his team’s win over Marseille with a goal and an assist, will face Nathan Tella and Victor Boniface in the final.
Atalanta made it into the final of the Europa League with a 2-0 home win over French side Olympique Marseille, with the Nigerian featuring prominently as they booked another Cup final after the Coppa Italia final placement.
The Ademola Lookman show
The 26-year-old Nigerian, unlike the first leg, started the game for the Serie A side and set them on the way with a goal at the half-hour mark to continue his fine form this season.
He turned in Charles De Ketelaere's pass to slot past Marseille goalkeeper Paul Lopez to put his side ahead in the game and ahead in the tie.
Despite Marseille’s valiant efforts, they could not get the equaliser as Atalanta went into the break in the lead.
It got better for the Italian side in the 55th minute when they got the second goal and a leg in the final.
Super Eagles star Ademola Lookman was once again involved as he provided the decisive pass for Matteo Ruggeri to score his team’s second goal of the game, which eventually ended Marseille’s hope of a comeback.
The French side once again went on the offensive but could not breach the Italian defense, which stood firm.
The Nigerian was later substituted in the 77th minute by El Bilal Toure to a rapturous applause by the home fans.
Substitute Bilal Toure then put the icing on the cake in added time for the Italians with a third goal to end the game 3-0 and 4-1 on aggregate as Atalanta booked their ticket to the final with German champions Bayer Leverkusen.
It was his second goal and second assist in the UEFA Europa League this season in ten games.
This season, the AFCON XI All-Star has scored 12 goals with 8 assists in all competitions for Atalanta.
No Boniface or Tella but Leverkusen remain unbeaten
Bayer Leverkusen and their Nigerian contingent of Victor Boniface and Nathan Tella also qualified for the final of this season’s UEFA Europa League after an enthralling second leg at the BayArena against the Italian side AS Roma.
Smarting from a 2-0 first-leg away win in Rome last weekend, Xabi Alonso named a starting XI without any of his Nigeria stars, but got a rude shock when Roma raced to a 2-0 lead.
With a place in the final and their unbeaten run at stake, the Germans felt comfortable of seeing off the Italians at the BayArena after a 2-0 away win last week but at the start, it did not go according to plan.
Leandro Parades scored two spot kicks in the 43rd and 46th minute as it looked like Leverkusen were going to lose their unbeaten record and elimination from the competition as momentum shifted to the Italians.
However, the dogged mentality shown by Leverkusen throughout the season came to bear once again.
An own goal by Gianluca Mancini meant Leverkusen were ahead 3-2 on aggregate and took the game to the Italians.
Substitute Josip Stanisic made sure of passage to the final and Die Werkself's unbeaten season streak continued with a 90th-minute equalizer.
Surprisingly, neither Super Eagles stars Victor Boniface nor Nathan Tella made it off the bench, but they wouldn’t mind as they savor a trip to the final at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on May 22, where they will go head-to-head with their compatriot Ademola Lookman.
