When a creative attacking player joins Atlético Madrid, it can often seem a gamble. Faced with the intensity of a coach who demands that his team operates as a unit, in attack or in defence, some players withdraw, lose interest, grow frustrated. But others thrive.
In the case of Ademola Lookman, it most definitely the latter.
With five goals and four assists across his first 14 appearances, Lookman has already established himself as a regular at a crucial point of the season. Lookman credits his fine
start to the man in the dugout, Diego Simeone.
“He’s very intense and very demanding,” Lookman said Thursday at a LALIGA media roundtable, “which is always good to have a manager like this, because you want to push as much as you can every single day.”
Lookman has worked under Gian Piero Gasperini at Atalanta, who led one of the most physically demanding systems in European football, and he left that experience having won the Europa League and been named African Footballer of the Year for 2024. He arrived at Atlético not needing to be rebuilt, but still wanting more.
Simeone is giving him that.
“Above all, he scores goals, in principle, he scores more goals than he contributes to the build-up play, so he can improve in terms of his play and defensive work,” Simeone said shortly after Lookman’s arrival in February. “We need him to adapt to the way the team operates in that area, and I can see he’s enthusiastic and keen to improve.”
The Argentine was criticised by many at the time for seeming to demand more defensive work from one of his most free-spirited attackers. That wasn’t how Lookman saw it.
“Learning that side of the game is something I’ve always been open to and wanting to improve,” he said. “I think that obviously gives me a new capacity as an attacking player and it’s jumped into my game. That part of the game I’m definitely working on and working to improve, because it builds me up overall as a player.”
The subtext is significant. Simeone does not run a system that hides his forwards from defensive responsibility. Lookman has had to adapt, and the fact he frames it as a capacity rather than a constraint tells you something about how his thinking has developed across a career that began professionally at 17 and has now, at 28, reached what looks like its most complete phase.
“I’m 28 now,” he noted, reflecting on the ten years between his debut and this interview. “The experiences I’ve learned throughout that time, the lessons I’ve learned, the people that have helped me along the way have obviously shaped me to be who I am.”
Lookman added something beyond sport which has helped him too.
“My faith in Jesus Christ as well, being disciplined in a way where you let your work speak for itself, the work that goes unseen, you keep doing that, because one day it will pay off,” he said.
Finding his feet
The numbers from Lookman’s opening weeks at Atlético were immediate enough to prompt genuine questions about whether the move was the best piece of January business in Europe. In his first six games, he scored four goals and added two assists, becoming the first player in the squad to score in the Champions League, La Liga and Copa del Rey in the same short run.
He is insistent, though, that none of this happened in isolation.
“Coming into a new environment, a new group is never easy,” Lookman said. “But being able to settle in well is credit to the people there, credit to the staff and credit to the players, because they welcomed me in and made me feel so comfortable that that’s obviously translated onto the pitch. The connection I have with my teammates on and off the pitch, that helps.”
Lookman singled out two figures in particular.
“I was teammates with Juan Musso and Matteo Ruggeri before at Atalanta. Once you join the team, you kind of stick around who you’re most familiar with, and obviously I stuck around them in the beginning,” he said. “As time goes on you kind of speak with more people and start to form different relationships, but primarily it was Matteo and Juan Musso who helped me a lot since coming here.”
It is a small but telling detail. Moving mid-season into a new country, new league, new language meant that having two familiar faces in the dressing room is not a trivial thing. Musso and Ruggeri smoothed the transition; the rest of the squad did the rest.
“I’ve said this many, many times,” Lookman acknowledged, “but the group here have been amazing. It’s a massive, massive club and it’s right in your face when you’re here.”
Barcelona, again
There has been no more complete measure of Lookman’s impact since arriving than the Copa del Rey semi-final against Barcelona, two legs that could not have felt more different, and from which Atlético have drawn very different lessons.
In the first leg at the Metropolitano, Lookman was at the heart of the 4-0 demolition, scoring in the 33rd minute and providing the assist for Julián Alvarez’s fourth goal deep into first-half stoppage time. The third goal came from a Giuliano Simeone cross to Alvarez, who squared for an unmarked Lookman to fire into the bottom corner; the fourth was Lookman turning provider, sliding a pass into the middle for Alvarez to finish from just inside the box.
The second leg in Barcelona ended 3-0 to the hosts. Atlético went through 4-3 on aggregate. Lookman started but was withdrawn before the hour as Simeone reconfigured to protect the lead. He was measured when discussing both nights.
“About Barcelona’s quality, of course, massive, massive club, massive team, a lot of quality inside the team,” he said. “We won 4-0 at home and the result of the away match was that, and we’re through to the final. There’s a lot to take away from both games, home and away. We’ve obviously learned from that and we’re still learning from that.”
Lookman was asked directly how he sees Atlético’s ability to compete with Barcelona and Real Madrid across a full season. His answer was unequivocal.
“I think Atlético is a massive, massive club on all fronts. I noticed that before I came here and obviously being here, it’s a lot bigger and right in your face,” he reflected. “The squad is full of amazing players, quality. We want to compete, and we’ll compete on all fronts, in three different competitions, which is credit to everybody here, credit to the staff, credit to the players, credit to the mentality here. The mentality is to win as much as we can, win the games that are in front of us.”
It was an approach which sounds remarkably similar to Simeone’s partido a partido, game by game, style.
Atlético find themselves entering the final stretch with a La Liga title race out of reach, but with Champions League quarter-finals (against Barcelona) ahead and a Copa del Rey final against Real Sociedad on April 18th.
Balancing priorities
With matches stacking on top of each other, the practicalities of maintaining peak performance become as important as the tactics. Lookman’s answer to how he handles it was simple enough to sound almost too obvious, until you consider how many players get it wrong.
“Recovery, eating right, sleeping right,” he said. “Just doing everything in your power possible to be at your best. Control what you control. Control your controllables and be at your best. I think that’s what you can do.”
Having scored against Real Madrid and Barcelona in the first three months of his time in Spain, Lookman has already proven his point. His pace and guile have provided cutting edge, and his creativity and technical ability have offered a differential aspect. Now, he has the opportunity to write himself into the history books even in his first few months.
The club’s first Copa del Rey final in 13 years and a chance to reach the Champions League semi-finals are at stake. All will be decided in the next two weeks. But for Lookman, this is just the beginning of an ambition to grow.
