Opinion: Why are African players like Ademola Lookman the default scapegoats of European football?

The UEFA Champions League semifinal on February 18 was anticipated to be a historic night in Ademola Lookman's career. Atalanta were already trailing Club Brugge 0-3 with a total aggregate score of 2-5 by the time the Nigerian attacker was introduced at the start of the second half. 

Launching himself onto Zapacosta's cross to slide home after just 34 seconds, the fastest goal by a second-half substitute in UCL history, Lookman, the African Footballer of the Year who scored a iconic hat-trick and overcame the unblemished gods in the Europa League final less than a year ago, sparked thin hopes of a comeback for a dying Atalanta.

But the turning point in fate occurred in the 61st minute, when the referee signalled to the penalty spot, and the recently successful Lookman, who missed the first leg through injury, shouldered responsibility, but his tame attempt from 12 yards was thwarted by Belgian goalkeeper Mignolet. Later on, the player would reveal in a statement release that the designated penalty taker assigned him this obligation.

The score stayed the same at 1-3 as the final whistle sounded, and the high-flying Atalanta were brutally slain just outside the door of the Champions League Round of 16.

However, the real earthquake was caused by comments of 67-year-old Italian head coach Gasperini during the post-match press conference. Renowned for his extraordinary composure, the snow-haired Gasperini blurted:

"Lookman shouldn't have taken the penalty; he's one of the worst penalty takers I've ever seen!" This remark, amplified on the megaphone of Fabrizio Roman's X account, set off a social media frenzy right away.

Ironically, social media users uncovered Gasperini's "feel sorry" response to Retegui's missed penalty kick against Arsenal earlier in the tournament, a miss that might have increased Atalanta's chances of automatically qualifying for the round of 16, thereby negating the need for the ill-fated tie versus Brugge.

This double standard has moved the accountability for a tactical loss to the domain of racial bigotry.

The African skin syndrome: Rarely praised, readily maligned

Lookman's background is not random. From the British media's contempt of his "comical Panenka penalty" at Fulham in 2020 to his present public humiliation by his own coach, this humble striker has been caught in the jinx of "African players are very imperfect."

"I am not only deeply hurt but also deeply disrespected by being singled out for criticism," Lookman said in his press statement on X. This comment revealed the hidden pangs in European football: when a team suffers a setback, African players are the most vulnerable to sacrificing anything in the locker room politics.

The insulting of Vinícius from the stands, the debate surrounding Pogba's hairstyle, and the penalty miss by Lookman today show the difference between surface-level equality and deep-seated discrimination in modern football; and a thin line such as a ball 12 yards from the goal measures this difference.

The basic character of this tempest now transcends the boundaries of technical and tactical debate.

Lookman's missed penalty showed us not only a forward's mistake but also a structural conundrum about how African players negotiate the spotlight and the magnifying lens in European football and why their achievements are sometimes underlined by prejudice.

When will this sport, sometimes referred to as the "universal language," really be able to understand the heartbeats of people with different skin tones?

The invisible discrimination in European football

The story of Ademola Lookman acts as a microcosm of the challenges African players in European football experience. This Nigerian forward:

• singlehandedly snapped Bayer Leverkusen's 51-game unbeaten run by scoring a hat-trick to help Atalanta win their maiden European trophy and Gasperini's first major career prize, 
• has the 3rd-best goals per match record in Atalanta history of players to have scored 30 goals or more for the club, 
• sits 12th on the all-time scoring list for Atalanta with 47 goals after just 106 games, and is just 13 goals behind 4th-placed Josip Ilicic, who played 173 games, 
• is currently Atalanta's most valuable player (€55 million), 
• has scored the most goals and provided the most assists in the last three years for the club, 
• is the club's all-time record scorer in European competitions, and 
• refused to force a move in the summer despite agreeing personal terms with PSG.

Still, a simple penalty miss in the UEFA Champions League playoff against Brugge set coach Gasperini on a scathing attack, calling him "the worst penalty taker."

Given the aforementioned players, Ruggeri and De Ketelaere, who have missed penalties on multiple occasions but have not come under the same kind of criticism, this was very alarming.

Benevolent selection of accountability hides the underlying prejudice mechanism against African players in European football, where achievements are methodically downplayed while mistakes are amplified exponentially.

Apart from contradicting objective facts, Gasperini's statement is untenable because of its well-rooted biased logic.

Fascinatingly, the coach in the same conference merely downplayed captain Rafael Toloi's aggressive attack on both an opponent and the referee as an "ugly incident." Lookman's mistake, though, was the reason their aspirations for a comeback fell short.

Just dance for us, little monkey

Keeping up with this double standard, brands' attitudes towards African players also show rather clear differences.

Given the outstanding commercial value statistics, it is even more ridiculous that brands are refusing African faces, as agents have revealed that sponsors still block personal endorsement partnerships, citing “market acceptance" as the justification. Combining on-field bigotry with economic discrimination produces this closed cycle that limits African athletes to the function of "tools."

This scenario is by no means uncommon as Sky Sports' official flyer in 2024 honouring the Europa League champions on X was heavily attacked for excluding Lookman, despite the Nigerian the exclusive scorer of the showpiece.

Together with Gasperini's criticism, this media-level approach of "racial erasure" creates the unwritten rule that "African players do not deserve to be the heroes of the narrative."

This difference is reminiscent of Pogba's situation at Manchester United in 2020, where his celebration dance and haircut were regularly attacked, while Grealish's similar behaviour was praised as "charismatic."

Lookman's brave but respectful response

Lookman's public remarks during the debate exposed a viewpoint beyond mere rivalry. The player underlined that "the team must come first" and that the penalty kick was "the designated player's instruction," thereby declining to engage in a verbal confrontation like the APOTY predecessor, Victor Osimhen.

This remark reveals the dynamics of the locker room that sometimes force African players to silently bear injustices for the good of the team. Still, Lookman answered with professionalism and promises to change the story around on-field.

One instance of this kind of protest that appeals across continents is Vinicius's "dance revolution". The Brazilian turned the anger of racists into artistic resistance and challenged monkey cries at the Bernabéu by celebrating his successes with more impassioned samba steps.

The real progress of the football world will start with the acceptance of a fact: the times Drogba used a penalty to save Ivory Coast from the brink of civil war and Lookman ended a 51-match unbeaten streak with a hat-trick transcended skin colour and geography and became a shared legacy of the human spirit in sports.

When the scores are forgotten and the referee's whistle fades, history will eventually question whether we preserved the most valuable aspect of this sport—purity and fairness—in every moment of controversy.