Finidi Salutes Lookman, Thumbs Up Boniface, Tella

EUROPA LEAGUE FINAL FALLOUT

Femi Solaja

Newly appointed Super Eagles Head Coach, Finidi George, was full of praises for Ademola Lookman for leading Atalanta  to victory in the UEFA Europa League final against Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday night in Dublin, Ireland.

The 26-year-old winger was at his electrifying best at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, carving the Leverkusen defence apart like a hot knife through butter, and scoring three superb goals.

Lookman was a core member of the Super Eagles team that secured second place at the AFCON 2023 tournament in Cote d’Ivoire with three goals to his credit but was not involved in the two friendly matches the new coach handled on an interim basis in the last FIFA window.

While there were several reports that Finidi is not a fan of the former Everton man, the Super Eagles coach made it clear that the former RB Leipzig forward is a core part of his team.

Speaking with journalists at his Media parley  in Lagos yesterday, Finidi George was full of praises for Lookman, and hopes the Atalanta man will replicate the same form during Nigeria’s upcoming 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

“I’m delighted with his performance. I sent a message to to congratulate him immediately after the match and I’m really  happy for him.”

The Super Eagles Head Coach also revealed that he also reached out to Nigeria’s other two players in Leverkusen that lost the final.

“I also reached out to (Victor) Boniface and (Nathan) Tella to tell them they should be proud of what they did. This is a great time for Nigerians. It’s wonderful for me as a coach. I’m happy with what these players have achieved and looking forward to them replicating the forms in the World Cup qualifiers,” Finidi remarked.

Lookman made history, becoming the first player to score a hat-trick in a UEFA Europa League final while Tella and Boniface can hold their chin up and keep their head high after an eventful season that saw Leverkusen go 51 games unbeaten, breaking Benfica’s 60-year record.

Xabi Alonso’s men won the German Bundesliga, ending Bayern Munich’s eleven-year reign. They are on course for a domestic double if they can defeat Kaiserslautern in the DFB Pokal final on Saturday.

Finidi George mentioned that his selection for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers will be based largely on the team that travelled with the Super Eagles to the AFCON 2023 tournament giving Lookman another nod.

“We’ll see new faces, about two to three new players. The squad should be out before the end of this weekend, we just have to sort out a few things. Some of our players are injured and we want to be sure they’ll be able to make it in time for our games. But largely, we’ll be building on our team from the AFCON,” the former Ajax Amsterdam winger added.

The Super Eagles will play  South Africa on June 7th at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo by 8 pm, before travelling to Abidjan to play  Gernot Rohr’s Benin Republic three days later.