Omeruo backs record-breaker Lookman to win the CAF Player of the Year Award

Super Eagles defender Kenneth Omeruo believes teammate Ademola Lookman deserves to be the next African Player of the Year award according to Soccernet. ng.

Lookman had a game to remember when Atalanta defeated Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 in the final of the UEFA Europa League on Wednesday evening. He singlehandedly destroyed a Bayer Leverkusen side that has remained unbeaten throughout the campaign.

Lookman scored twice in the first half and added one more in the second to make it 3-0 for La Dea and grant them their first European title in over 60 years.

Following his superb performance for Atalanta, compatriot  Omeruo has stirred a bit of controversy, as he shared a social media post, telling CAF to give Lookman broke records during the Europa League campaign, and here are some of them.

He became the first player to score a hat-trick in a Europa League final since 1975 (including the UEFA Cup).

The former Everton man is the first player to register a hat-trick in a single-match format of the Europa League final.

Lookman also became the fastest player to score two goals in a Europa League final – managing to do so in 26 minutes.

Meanwhile, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang broke the record for the most goals scored in the Europa League group stages and knock-out games. He has 34 goals to his name – three more than Henrik Larsson.

After Atalanta’s triumph, Italy have become the second most successful nation in the competition’s history with 10 trophies. Spain are currently top of the pile with 14 trophies – Sevilla has won half of them.

Italy now has five clubs who have won the Europa League/UEFA Cup. Milan, Juventus, Parma, and Napoli were previous winners before Atalanta. They become the fourth country to do so after Spain, England and Germany.

Italy has also made the second-most number of appearances in the Europa League finals. With their 18th final appearance last night, they have jumped ahead of England on the list – with only Spain in front of them.

Germany created unwanted history by becoming the nation with the most runner-up places in the competition. They have finished on the losing side of finals on nine occasions with seven separate teams.

Leverkusen have had the best season in their history, but they could not break the deadlock on Wednesday. They have now become the first German side to fail to score in the final since Hamburg in 1982.