Ademola Lookman will aim to score his first goal in five games against Arsenal whom Atalanta face in their UEFA Champions League group opener at the Gewiss Stadium on Thursday.

Lookman scored five times from three Europa League starts at the end of the 2023/24 campaign, however, he has never found the net in four career appearances against the Gunners.

He played twice against Arsenal in the 2017/18 and 2018/19 seasons while he was still at Everton with the Nigerian losing the first Premier League game 5-2 before a 1-0 triumph.

Lookman played another Premier League game against Arsenal in 2020/21 during a loan spell at Fulham, securing a 1-1 draw before he lost 2-0 on loan at Leicester City in 2021/22.

Atalanta return to the UCL after memorably lifting their first European trophy last season, becoming the only team to beat Bayer Leverkusen, winning 3-0 in the Europa League final.

Back in May, a Lookman hat-trick helped La Dea get over losing the Coppa Italia final a few days earlier and the Nigerian attacking sensation is also in the mood to score more goals.

After La Dea lost two of their first three Serie A matches, they appear to be back as they twice fought back from behind to beat Fiorentina on Sunday with Lookman scoring the winner.

Meanwhile, Lookman has said that he and his teammates are charged for the clash with Arsenal. “We are charged and ready to face the match with the right spirit,” the Nigerian ace said.

“Arsenal are a very strong team and I know what to expect from them,” he acknowledged. “Playing against a team of that level is always a difficult challenge but we are ready,” he said.

Atalanta booked their Champions League ticket through a stellar Serie A campaign last season and Lookman is determined to prove their rightful place on Europe’s biggest stage this term.

“We earned this place in the Champions League thanks to our great last season and we want to show that we deserve to be here,” he emphasized. “The Gewiss Stadium will be full to it’s brim.

“And it will be a special environment for a European night like Thursday.” He joined Atalanta from RB Leipzig for €9.3m in 2022 and has scored 33 goals and rendered 19 assists in 80 games.

Bayer Leverkusen head coach, Xabi Alonso has said that he is now expecting the best from Victor Boniface even as the Bundesliga rates the Nigerian a crucial cog in the club’s squad.

Alonso said this about Boniface who after a slow start this season bagged a brace against Hoffenheim on Matchday 3 and assisted Martin Terrier’s goal in a 4-1 win at the PreZero Arena.

“It was very important for his confidence and mood,” said Alonso after the game. “I’m now expecting the best from ‘Boni’. It’s always difficult for defenders to play against him [but] he can and must do more. He knows it and the team needs it.”

Alonso can feel confident that there is indeed more to come from the 23-year-old, who in footballing terms is entering what should be his prime years.

The goals had been coming, despite Boniface only breaking his mini-drought in what was his third Bundesliga outing this season. He had averaged 17 shots on goal across the first three matchdays, four more than any other player.

Some 100 shots on goal last term, at an average of four per game, might suggest he is a ‘shoot on sight’ kind of striker, but Boniface’s decision-making far exceeds that.

Indeed, he was 1v1 with Oliver Baumann after springing the offside trap last Saturday, before squaring for Terrier for an easier finish, and he regularly picks out his teammates.

The official Bundesliga website also wrote about the Super Eagles forward: “Victor Boniface, a crucial cog in Bayer Leverkusen’s all-conquering machine.

“Florian Wirtz has been tipped for a Ballon d’Or while Álex Grimaldo’s attacking stats make a mockery of his status as a defender but Boniface may just be Alonso’s most important player at Leverkusen.”

Boniface joined Leverkusen from Union Saint-Gilloise, amid little fanfare, in the summer of 2023. One short season later he had displaced Patrik Schick as Die Werkself’s first-choice striker before firing Bayer to a Bundesliga and DFB Cup double.

On what it is that makes the Nigerian No.9 so hot to handle, bundesliga.com takes a closer look: “First, a cold hard look at the numbers: in 38 games across all competitions, Boniface has scored 24 goals.

“He also uses his physically imposing frame to bring others into play and has added 11 assists. All told, he has enjoyed a direct goal-involvement every 68 minutes he has played for Leverkusen.”

Victor Boniface will be gunning for his 25th goal in the colours of Bayer Leverkusen who will meet Feyenoord in a Champions League group game at the Stadion Feijenoord on Thursday.

Boniface despite being out of competitive action for three-months with an adductor injury had 21 goals and ten assists in 34 games in all competitions for Die Werkself last season.

So far this season, he has scored three goals and contributed one assist in four matches to take his tally for Leverkusen to 24 goals and eleven assists in 38 fixtures for the club.

Aiming to make a major impact on the Champions League after last season’s record-breaking feats, Leverkusen will meet Feyenoord with Boniface aiming to maintain his very strong form.

Boniface on Saturday bagged two goals and an assist to help defending champions, Leverkusen put their first loss in 35 Bundesliga games against RB Leipzig at the BayArena behind them.

The forward started against Hoffenheim who have been in turmoil for weeks and basically toyed with the opponents who were playing at home with Boniface in the mood for destruction.

Boniface set up Martin Terrier to score his first Bundesliga goal in the 17th minute to give the visitors a deserved lead before he then danced around defenders to add the second.

The Super Eagles striker danced around defenders to score on 30 minutes courtesy of an assist from Granit Xhaka and got his brace on 75 minutes after being set up by Jeremie Frimpong.

FootballCritic gave the striker a stunning rating of 9.9 for his Man of the Match performance and it was proof he has the potential to be one of Europe’s elite forwards if he stays fit.

Former Chelsea defender, Glen Johnson has claimed that Victor Osimhen is the big signing that the Blues missed out on landing during the most recent summer transfer window.

Osimhen on September 3, 2024 joined Galatasaray on a loan deal after Napoli frustrated him from making his preferred move during the summer transfer window.

It was clear that Paris Saint-Germain really wanted to sign Osimhen but the deal failed to go through before the Nigerian striker had links with a move to either Al Ahli or Chelsea.

Osimhen was thereafter left stranded following the decision of Napoli to drop him from their Serie A squad list for the 2024/25 season.

That would have meant the Super Eagles striker would go no fewer than four months without seeing competitive football action, however, Galatasaray came to his rescue by signing him on loan.

Speaking to Betfred, Johnson was asked if there was a certain player in particular that he believed Chelsea missed out on signing this summer.

“The obvious one would be Victor Osimhen. He was the big name they wanted and didn’t get. They’ve signed loads of youngsters that may not be in the team straight away, despite spending a lot of money on them, and I think Osimhen is the big signing that they’ve missed out on.”

He was also asked why he believed Osimhen didn’t sign for Chelsea this summer. “It’s a weird deal altogether because at one moment, there were supposedly only two teams in the race to sign him and then the window’s shut and he’s moved on loan to a team that wasn’t even in the conversation to sign him.

“I don’t know if the player was asking for too much money or his club was asking for too much money, but it does strike me as a strange move considering the amount of chat there was around him going to Chelsea.”

Osimhen was credited with an assist on his Turkish Süper Lig debut for Galatasaray after the Nigerian striker was denied a stunning goal in a massive win for his side.

Osimhen who joined Galatasaray on a season-long loan from Napoli rendered an assist in the first half as the host defeated Rizespor 5-0 at the Rams Global Stadyumu on Saturday.

After their constant pressing, Galatasaray got their second goal of the game in the 25th minute. A cross was swung in from a set piece and Osimhen met the ball with a fine header .

The ball looked like it was destined for the net but a Galatasaray player, Abdulkerim Bardakci got his foot to it just before it entered the net with Osimhen credited with the assist.

Former Nigerian defender Taribo West, is confident that Bayer Leverkusen striker Victor Boniface, will deliver goals for the Super Eagles.

Boniface got the nod of Eagles interim coach, Augustine Eguavoen, to start in Nigeria’s 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers against the Republic of Benin in Uyo and Rwanda in Kigali, due to the fitness issues surrounding Victor Osimhen and Taiwo Awoniyi.

The 23-year-old, however, failed to get on the score sheet or register an assist, despite Nigeria defeating the Cheetahs 3-0 at home before the 0-0 away against the Amavubi.

Taribo said Boniface, who scored a brace and provided an assist in Leverkusen’s 4-0 thumping of Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga last weekend, is still young and facing competition in Eagles attacking line.

“I think he will come up. It is normal, he is a young player and already in that position, there are established players. Osimhen is hot, Ademola (Lookman) is hot, and then the wingers, Simon is doing well, so it is a normal thing,” he said on Brila FM’s ‘No Holds Barred’ on Tuesday.

“So anytime he comes into the game, there is this anxiety to score. But I think he is a young player with a hot prospect for the national team. He is hot in Europe and I think he will bring that fire to Nigeria. It is just a matter of time because he has not settled into the national team.”

The 50-year-old, who is now a clergyman, also said changes in the technical crew could also be a factor.

“It is a normal thing. New coaches coming in and all that, so it is a normal thing and time will come when he would fit into the team in the right moment and at the right time. The necessary goals he needs to score will come,” Taribo stated.

He added: “They should not put too much pressure on him and he should not put himself under pressure because he would want to impress.

“That was what I saw against Benin (Republic). He wanted to impress but if he had played the way he does at Leverkusen, he would have scored.”

Boniface missed the 2023 AFCON due to a groin problem he picked up while in the Eagles camp.

Former Nigeria international, Mutiu Adepoju has said the Super Eagles must make winning the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) a priority.

The Eagles have not won the AFCON since 2013, and they could only finish as runners up this year in Ivory Coast.

However, they have started well in the race to reach the next tournament to be hosted in Morocco in December 2025.

Adepoju referenced how Nigeria went close to lifting the continental title on two occasions before eventually winning it during his time.

The 53-year-old stressed that since the Eagles lost in the final of the last AFCON, it is time to go a step further after 11 years of attempting to win it again.

“I believe it is possible if we continue well and do things correctly. When we won the AFCON in 1994, we had two AFCONS before then.

“We got to the final in 1990 and in 1992, we won bronze. Then going to AFCON in 1994, we went there to win it.

“So, we at that time that we were supposed to go for it because we had gotten near to it in two previous AFCONS, so I believe this time around, what we have to do is to go all the way to go and win because since 2013, we have not won AFCON. We just have to go all the way for it,” he said.

Unlike in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, the Super Eagles have been impressive in the 2025 AFCON qualifiers so far. Nigeria recorded 3-0 victory over Benin Republic at home in Uyo and played 0-0 against Rwanda in Kigali.

Adepoju said the players performed well in the two matches because they did not want to disappoint Nigerians again.

“Well, I wouldn’t know, I wouldn’t know. Probably at that moment, they didn’t have the opportunity and all that,” he stated on what could be the reason for the contrasting results in the World Cup and AFCON qualifiers.

“I believe everybody knows what is at stake and shouldn’t fail. I mean Nigerians are expecting much from them. I believe that made them to understand and see the reason why have to fight and play very well and win the games.”