Tag: Ademola  Lookman

Nigerian ace  rated  4^th best  performer in 18 matches

Ahead of today’s Supercoppa Italiana  semi-final match against Inter Milan in Riyadh,  Atalanta’s  Nigeria  forward, Ademola  Lookman, has been listed  among  the best  Serie A scorers  in 2024.

But  Current Serie A’s Capocannoniere  Marcus Thuram  of Inter Milan was the best scorer in Italy’s top flight last year.

The Frenchman netted 18 goals in 24 league games with the Nerazzurri, one more than Juventus star Vlahovic and two more than Italy international Retegui, who played for Genoa and Atalanta in 2024.

Thuram’s teammate Lautaro Martinez, the best Serie A scorer in 2023-24, netted 15 goals in 32 appearances last year, one more than his compatriot Paulo Dybala.

African Footballer of the Year,  Lookman,  and Charles De Ketelaere netted 15 goals apiece, but the Nigerian forward did it in 28 games, while CDK made 36 league appearances with La Dea last year.

Moise Kean netted 11 goals in 23 games with Juventus and Fiorentina but scored all his goals with the Viola shirt in the current campaign.

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Roma’s Artem Dovbyk is among the best scorers in Europe in 2024 but scored just five of his 18 goals in Serie A, netting the remaining goals in La Liga with Girona during the 2023-24 season.

In a related development,  Lookman  has also been listed as one of the top Serie A performers in the opening 18 rounds.

In a cumulative statistics  at the conclusion of the opening 18 matches  of the on-going  campaign, Fantacalcio provided  the top 10 performers in the league so far with Lookman  averaging 6.6 in fourth position behind

The ratings are generated by average player ratings from Italian sports papers, considering footballers with at least 50% of appearances.

Incidentally, Thuram, the current Serie A leading scorer, has the highest rating so far – 6.65 – slightly above his teammate Nicolò Barella  ( 6.64) and Fiorentina keeper David de Gea ( 6.64).

Meanwhile, Atalanta’s coach Gian Piero Gasperini  has said that  the Supercoppa match in Riyadh against Inter offers his wards including  Lookman to  show what they  can do on a big stage.

Gasperini concluded by highlighting Atalanta’s recent achievements: “In 2024, we played three finals: Coppa Italia, Europa League, and European Supercup. Playing these types of matches brings prestige to the club, value to the players, and satisfaction to all of us. These are globally watched games where you want to perform well and be as competitive as possible. It’s important for us to be here, but it will be even more important to win.”

The Confederation of African Football (CAF)  has retained  fans’  favourite, Ademola Lookman , and the other four contenders   in its final shortlist of five for the prestigious  CAF  Men’s Player of the Year to be  decided on Monday in Morocco.

While  CAF named  a final shortlist of threes in the other categories,  the continental soccer  ruling body  said  there  was little  to choose  from the  final  shortlist of five  for the Men’s Player of the Year hence   the quintent  will know their fate  in Marrakech on Monday.

With  this development,  the 27-year-old   Nigeria’s Atalanta  forward will  fight  it out with the Ivorian  Simon Adingra  (Brighton & Hove Albion);  Guinea’s Serhou Guirassy ( Borussia Dortmund);  Morocco’s Achraf Hakimi  (Paris Saint-Germain ) and South Africa’s goalkeeper Ronwen Williams (Mamelodi Sundowns).

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“With so little to choose in the voting between the remaining nominees in the race for the coveted Men’s Player of the Year at the 2024 CAF Awards, organisers have kept intact the full list of five names ahead of the ceremony in Marrakech, Morocco on Monday,” CAF said  on its website . “It adds to the suspense on the evening in what has been one of the most closely fought contests in the history of the Award, with five outstanding candidates hoping to write their names into the rich history of football on the continent.”

Meanwhile,  FC Paris  and Super Falcons  goalkeeper,  Chiamaka Nnadozie, made  the final cut of three  for the  Women’s Player of the Year prize.

“After a rigorous voting process, the final three nominees for Women’s Player of the Year can be revealed with Zambia striker Barbra Banda, Morocco forward Sanaâ Mssoudy and Nigeria goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie still in the running.” CAF also stated.  “These three outstanding players shone throughout the year and in their own way have embodied the excellence and passion of African football.”

The 2024 CAF Awards ceremony takes place at the Palais des Congrès and will kick off at 19h00 local time,  7pm Nigerian time.

Despite  scoring in his side’s shock 3-2 defeat  to Como on  Wednesday’ night , Atalanta forward, Ademola Lookman, was conspicuously  missing  in the list of  Serie A Best Players  at the end  of  the first five opening weeks  of the 2024/ 2025 season.

Ironically, the  Nigeria international in penultimate  week,  was  jointly adjudged  best  player  of  Matchday Four along with  Udinese’s Florian Thauvin after he got an assist and a goal  in what was his first game of the  season  in  the  3-2 defeat of Fiorentina .

But in a list of best  Serie A  best performers  across the first  five matches, Lookman was not listed at all and this might not be unconnected  with the fact that   the 26-yer-old forward had missed the opening three matches of the season  during  his  failed  bid to  switch to   PSG before the transfer deadline day.

Meanwhile,  according to Football Italia, Torino goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic has the highest average rating in Serie A after the opening five games with  Lazio‘s ‘Taty’ Castellanos and Inter‘s Nicolò Barella in second and third positions respectively.

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The Serie A Round 5 ended on Tuesday night with a surprising 3-2 Como victory away at Atalanta. The match had been initially scheduled for Monday but was postponed to the following day after torrential rain in the Bergamo area made the pitch unsafe.

Torino are the Serie A leaders with 11 points, and their goalkeeper Milinkovic-Savic was the best-performing player in the league in the first five weeks.

As reported by Fantacalcio, the Serbia international has the highest average player rating from sports papers among those with at least 50% appearances in Serie A this term. The 27-year-old has kept two clean sheets in five games, conceding one goal per game on average.

His average rating is 7.1, just a little above Lazio striker Valentin Castellanos (6.88) and Inter’s Barella (6.75).

Castellanos has scored three goals in four games, missing the most recent match against Fiorentina, while Barella has one goal and one assist. The Italian star has sustained a muscle injury and will miss the next three matches, returning to action after the international break in October.

Top 10 Serie A players Week 1-5

Vanja Milinkovic-Savic (Goalkeeper, Torino) 7.1

Valentin Castellanos (Striker, Lazio) 6.88

Nicolò Barella (Midfielder, Inter) 7.75

Saul Coco (Defender, Torino) 6.75

Nico Paz (Attacking midfielder, Como) 6.75

Dennis Man (Winger, Parma) 6.7

Federico Gatti (Defender, Juventus) 6.62

Christian Pulisic (Winter, Milan) 6.6

Duvan Zapata (Striker, Torino) 6.6

Ardian Ismajli (Defender, Empoli) 6.6