Gian Piero Gasperini, the Atalanta coach, has continued to express his frustration following Ademola lookman’s crucial penalty miss against Club Brugge in the Champions League.
The Italian manager is still fuming after the 27-year-old missed the spot-kick in their 5-2 defeat to the belgain side which ultimately led to their elimination from the competition on Tuesday night
Despite the disappointing result, Lookman had made an instant impact upon his return from injury. He came off the bench at halftime, with Atalanta already trailing 3-0 in the second leg at home, and scored just 35 seconds after his introduction.
However, the Super Eagles star’s night took a dramatic turn when he stepped up to take a penalty in the second half.
With Atalanta down 5-2 on aggregate and desperate for a comeback, Lookman took the responsibility ahead of teammates Mateo Retegui and Charles De Ketelaere but failed to convert from 12 yards.
The missed penalty allowed Brugge to maintain their lead and secure their qualification to the round of 16. After the match, Gasperin initially did not hold back in criticism  of Lookman. He stated.
Ademola Lookman is one of the worst penalty takers I’ve ever seen. He took the ball despite Retegui and De Ketelaere being available to take it… I didn’t like what Lookman did.
Now, Gasperini has spoken further about how the miss affected his team, saying the missed penalty dampened our enthusiasm, he said From a sporting point of view, we were good and we kept up the pace. But they had fast strikers, and that doesn’t depend on our fitness.
Reflecting on the result as a whole, Gasperini admitted that it was a deserved defeat for his club, as they failed to capitalise on their opportunities.
The elimination is deserved; let’s give Brugge credit. They were two strange games, the Champions League is a competition of episodes , he added.
Tonight, we conceded early, and they made the most of it. It wasn’t a fair result to end the first half 3-0 down – it could have been 2-1. There were so many situations. We had a lot of chances across the 180 minutes, especially in the second halves.