African Footballer of the Year, Ademola Lookman started on the bench for his club, Atalanta in the Italian Super Cup against Serie A champions, Inter Milan on Thursday and they lost 0-2.
Coach of the Europa Cup champions, Gian Pero Gasperini has however, come out to explain his reason for not starting the Nigerian star in the all-important match.
In the first semi final encounter which ended 0-0 in the first half, coach Gasperini kept regulars like Ederson, Charles De Ketelaere and Lookman on the bench with Inter having a better ball possession and five attempts at goal to Atalanta’s two.
After Denzel Dumfries gave Inter the lead in the 49th minute, Gasperini reacted by bringing in Lookman, Ederson, and De Ketelaere in the 56th minute. But it was rather too late as Dumfries scored his second goal in the 61st minute.
The European champions mounted pressure and pulled one back in the 72nd minute but it was ruled offside by the referee.
Another effort by Lookman in the 90th minute was saved by the Inter goalkeeper.
After the match, Coach Gasperini explained that the reason for resting his regular players was as a result of the congested schedule for the team.
“De Ketelaere and Lookman cannot always play 90 minutes. All the players I used are from the first team and rarely from the start, like Brescianini, Zaniolo and Samardzic,” Gasperini told Pazzidifanta, stressin, “In the second half I wanted to stay in the game and make important changes. That was the strategy.”
