Serie A: Gasperini justifies Lookman substitution in 3-2 victory over Milan

After being booed by some sections of fans following his substitution of in-form Nigeria international, Ademola Lookman, in their 3-2 win over AC Milan, Atalanta manager Gian Piero Gasperini has defended his decision to take off the forward.

Lookman was very outstanding on Saturday for Atalanta scoring two goals as the hosts secured their seventh league win of the season.

The 26-year-old bagged his sixth goal of the season in 15 league appearances after scoring Atalanta first two goals in the 38th and 55th minutes respectively and was in search of his first career hat-trick before being taken off by Gasperini in the 82nd minute and replaced with Luis Muriel.

The Atalanta fans expressed their displeasure with the substitution by booing the manager and the Colombian forward.

At the post-match press conference monitored by TuttoSport, Gasperini defended his substitution while also praising Muriel, who scored the winning goal in the stoppage time.

“Replacement of Lookman? There were some whistles but Muriel was great at turning them into applause.

“He scored an extraordinary goal; next time we’ll think twice about booing him. He often scores these goals in training; I’m very happy for him.”


Gasperini also reserved some praise for the former Everton forward adding that the Nigerian would be an unstoppable beast if he played every game like he did against Milan.

“Did Lookman say that he has never worked so hard? He never did anything then (laughs),” the Italian manager said.

“He can’t play every game like he does tonight otherwise he would be a monster. You have to understand that days aren’t always good and that you have to make yourself available to the team: I think he’s a good guy.”

Lookman has six goals and two assists in 15 Serie A games this season. Last term, the former Leicester City ace notched 13 goals and eight assists in 31 league games for Atalanta.