'He wasn't playing for the team' - Atalanta coach explains why birthday boy Lookman was replaced

Atalanta kicked off their challenging stretch of seven games in twenty-two days in the best way possible, beating Venezia 2-0, with a goal in both halves, at the Pier Luigi Penzo Stadium on Sunday.

Mario Pasalic needed less than seven minutes to break the deadlock, firing the ball into the roof of the net from close range following a scramble in the box.

Ademola Lookman came close to doubling the advantage in the 27th minute with a ferocious strike from just outside the box, only for his effort to hit the post.

Mateo Retegui, with a little piece of magic, made it 2-0 two minutes into the second half with a chip shot to beat the onrushing goalkeeper.

Lookman, who is celebrating his 27th birthday today, was surprisingly substituted at the interval, with Juan Cuadrado coming on in his place.

Speaking at the post-match press conference, Atalanta manager Gian Piero Gasperini explained that Lookman was substituted because he wasn't playing for the team in terms of his defensive contribution. 

In quotes relayed by Calcio Napoli 1926, he said: "Even though he is our most dangerous player, he struggled a lot to come back. He wasn't able to play for the team but for the ideas, which are important, but at that moment Venezia had grown.

"There was a risk of playing a match like the one against Como. I needed to tie the team together more."

Of the eleven matches contested by Atalanta so far this season, Lookman has gone the distance on three occasions, in the Super Cup against Real Madrid and in Serie A clashes with Fiorentina and Bologna.

The Ballon d'Or nominee was among the twenty-two Nigerian players stranded in Libya for over sixteen hours until the Nigerian government stepped in and arranged for the players and officials to return to Abuja.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel 

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