Atalanta forward, Ademola Lookman and manager, Gian Gasperini.

Atalanta manager, Gian Gasperini, has stated that his intention was not to offend Super Eagles forward, Ademola Lookman, with his penalty miss remark after the club crashed out of the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday.

He stated this on Saturday during the pre-match press conference ahead of Sunday’s clash with Empoli in the Serie A.

Recall that in his post-match comments, Gasperini did not hold back in his criticism of the Nigerian international, making it clear that Lookman had no business taking the crucial spot-kick.

“Lookman was not supposed to take that penalty, he is one of the worst penalty takers I’ve ever seen,” the Italian manager told reporters.

“He has a frankly terrible record even in training, he converts very few of them. 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.”

Following Gasperini’s remarks, Lookman took to Instagram to express his disappointment, describing the criticism as both “deeply disrespectful” and personally hurtful. His response resonated with fans and pundits alike, many of whom questioned why the manager chose to publicly attack his player instead of addressing the issue internally.

As the controversy continued to dominate headlines, Gasperini addressed the situation in a press conference on Saturday. While he acknowledged the impact of his words, he insisted that his intention was not to insult Lookman.

“It had an extraordinary impact, everything that came afterwards… mine was not meant to be an offensive sentence,” Gasperini said.

“Yesterday in Udinese-Lecce we had what could have been a drama, luckily there were guys who let it go. I would have liked a strong player like Lookman to have made a gesture towards [Charles] De Ketelaere saying: ‘Come on keep the ball, put it in’.

“He can become a penalty taker, that would be an additional goal-scoring ability… I always speak in front of the whole team, it has never touched the club. He felt offended, I didn’t want to offend anyone.”

Amid his efforts to downplay the controversy, Gasperini has been busy preparing his troops for a crucial match against Empoli on Sunday. They remain in contention for the Serie A title, sitting third in the league table, just five points behind leaders Napoli and another victory over the weekend will be a major boost to keep their championship ambitions alive.