Ademola Lookman has fired back at "deeply disrespectful" comments made by Atalanta boss Gian Piero Gasperini and admitted he felt singled out following their Champions League exit on Tuesday.
Serie A title hopefuls Atalanta lost 3-1 at home to Club Brugge and were knocked out of Europe's elite competition by a 5-2 score on aggregate.
Half-time substitute Lookman scored but then had a penalty saved midway through the second half, which led to criticism from Gasperini post-match, with the Nigeria attacker described as "one of the worst penalty takers" by the veteran Italian coach, despite him having converted all four of the previous spot-kicks he had taken for the club. His only previous career penalty miss came for Fulham against West Ham in 2020.
Gasperini said that Mateo Retegui or Charles de Ketelaere should have taken the penalty instead.
"He has a frankly terrible record even in training, he converts very few of them," said Gasperini.
"Retegui and De Ketelaere were there, but Lookman in a moment of enthusiasm after scoring decided to take the ball and that was a gesture I did not appreciate at all."
The former Charlton and Everton London-born forward has responded a day later with a lengthy post on his Instagram and X page where he referenced previous "difficult moments" during his three largely successful seasons at Atalanta.
Lookman, who scored a hat-trick to fire the club to Europa League success over Bayer Leverkusen in Dublin last May and has 15 goals already this season, said: "It saddens me on a day like this to have to write this statement – most of all because of what we have achieved together as a team and as a city.
"Being singled out in the manner I have been not only hurts but feels deeply disrespectful, not least because of the immense hard work and commitment I have always put in each and every day to help bring success to this club and to the incredible fans of Bergamo.
"In truth, I have dealt with many difficult moments during my time here – the majority of which I have never spoken about because in my opinion the team must always be protected and must come first. This makes what happened last night even more hurtful.
"Along with our incredible fans, we as a team are hurting too with last night’s result. During the match the designated penalty taker instructed me to take the penalty; and to support the team I took responsibility in the moment to do so.
"Life’s about challenges and turning pain into power which I’ll continue to do."
Lookman has scored 47 times across 106 appearances since he signed for Atalanta in 2022.
