New Atl\u00e9tico Madrid forward Ademola Lookman marked his debut for the Spanish club with a goal on Thursday, scoring the third strike in their Copa del Rey quarter-final clash against Real Betis at the Estadio La Cartuja in Seville.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lookman finalised his transfer from Atalanta on Monday, resumed training with his new teammates on Tuesday, and wasted no time in opening his account for the club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Nigerian forward scored Atl\u00e9tico\u2019s third goal in the 37th minute with a trademark finish, following an opener from David Hancko in the 12th minute and Giuliano Simeone\u2019s strike in the 30th minute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Atl\u00e9tico coach Diego Simeone had hinted on Wednesday at the possibility of handing Lookman his debut in the fixture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 28-year-old arrived alongside two other winter signings \u2014 Rodri Mendoza from Elche and Obed Vargas from Seattle Sounders \u2014 and Simeone spoke glowingly about the reigning African Player of the Year during his pre-match press conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThree important players have arrived. We\u2019re going to need them, and we\u2019ll work together to finish the season in the best way possible,\u201d Simeone said, via Spidy Atl\u00e9tico<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe (Lookman) joined the group very quickly, and you could immediately notice his physical strength, his speed, his ability to change the play, and his power in the final third.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe hope he can help us in the way he believes he can, and in the way we expect. Obviously, it\u2019s important that partnerships are formed for the good of the team, because that\u2019s what it\u2019s about \u2014 bringing good players together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lookman joined Atl\u00e9tico on a four-year deal worth \u20ac40 million (\u20ac35 million plus \u20ac5 million in add-ons) and was officially presented to fans on Tuesday, taking the No. 22 jersey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Simeone and his side are enduring a difficult phase of the campaign. Atl\u00e9tico currently sit 10 points behind LaLiga leaders Barcelona and face a Champions League play-off tie against Club Brugge in the coming weeks as they bid to remain in the competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a result, the Copa del Rey represents Atl\u00e9tico\u2019s most realistic route to silverware this season, although they must first overcome Betis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cProud and excited to start this new chapter. I\u2019m happy to join Atl\u00e9tico de Madrid, a massive club with rich history and passion,\u201d Lookman wrote on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNew city, new challenges, new energy. I\u2019m ready to give everything on the pitch and fight for these colours every time I step out there. Let\u2019s get to work. Aupa.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The move to Spain brought an end to Lookman\u2019s long-running transfer saga with Atalanta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During three-and-a-half seasons in Serie A, the former Leicester City winger scored 55 goals and provided 27 assists in 137 appearances for the Bergamo-based club.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" New Atl\u00e9tico Madrid forward Ademola Lookman marked his debut for the Spanish club with a goal on Thursday, scoring the third strike in their Copa del Rey quarter-final clash against Real Betis at the Estadio La Cartuja in Seville. Lookman finalised his transfer from Atalanta on Monday, resumed training with his new teammates on Tuesday,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":96165,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[216,256,257],"class_list":["post-96164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-example-3","tag-ademola-lookman","tag-atletico-madrid-2","tag-real-betis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kokocurrent.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kokocurrent.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kokocurrent.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kokocurrent.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kokocurrent.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=96164"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kokocurrent.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96166,"href":"https:\/\/kokocurrent.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96164\/revisions\/96166"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kokocurrent.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/96165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kokocurrent.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=96164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kokocurrent.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=96164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kokocurrent.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=96164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}