Monday signing, Thursday starter, instant impact
There's an unwritten rule in football: give a new signing time to settle. Learn the patterns, understand the pressing triggers, figure out where the coffee machine is. Ademola Lookman apparently didn't get the memo.
The Nigerian forward completed his €40 million move from Atalanta on Monday. He trained with his new teammates on Tuesday and Wednesday. By Thursday evening at La Cartuja in Seville, he was in the starting XI — and by half-time, he'd scored one, assisted another, and been involved in a third. Atlético Madrid dismantled Real Betis 5-0 in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals.
Two training sessions. A goal, an assist, and a performance that made the Betis defence look like they were still on their winter break. At some point you have to stop calling it a debut and start calling it a statement.
How the rout unfolded
Atlético were ahead before the game had settled. Koke — el director de la orquesta, as some Spanish commentators called him — whipped a corner into the area and Dávid Hancko buried the header in the 12th minute. Betis barely had time to regroup before Lookman began causing havoc down the left.
The 28-year-old missed two early chances — one after a precise Álex Baena pass on 16 minutes — but he kept pushing. His movement dragged Betis's shape out of place repeatedly. In the build-up to the second goal, it was Lookman's run that created the space for Matteo Ruggeri to find Giuliano Simeone, who tapped in from close range on 30 minutes.
Seven minutes later, Lookman got his reward. Pablo Barrios slipped a pass into the box. Lookman took a touch, beat two Betis defenders with a sharp body feint, and fired across goal into the far post. 3-0 before half-time. The Betis fans who'd bothered to show up at La Cartuja went very quiet.
The second half was a formality. Lookman turned provider in the 62nd minute, sliding a perfectly weighted ball behind the Betis backline for Antoine Griezmann — back from a month-long absence — to finish. Thiago Almada added a fifth in the 83rd. Atlético could have had more.
What Simeone saw in training
Diego Simeone hinted before the match that he might throw Lookman straight in. The day before, he told reporters: "He joined the group very quickly, and you could immediately notice his physical strength, his speed, his ability to change the play, and his power in the final third."
It felt like an understatement after what happened. But the interesting bit is what Lookman's arrival does to the rest of the team. With a genuine dribbler on the left for the first time this season, Baena drifted into a more central playmaking role alongside Koke and Barrios — an all-Spanish midfield trio that ran the game from start to finish. Giuliano Simeone found more space on the right. Griezmann could drop into pockets without worrying about width.
There's also the Ruggeri connection. The Italian left-back and Lookman were teammates at Atalanta — they already know each other's runs, each other's timing. It showed on the second goal. That kind of chemistry normally takes weeks to build. These two arrived pre-loaded.
A messy departure, a clean start
Lookman's exit from Atalanta was anything but smooth. He requested to leave citing broken promises and poor treatment, per reports from multiple Italian outlets. The 2024 African Ballon d'Or winner had scored a hat-trick in the Europa League final for the Bergamo club less than two years ago, but the relationship soured. Atlético moved late in the January window, paying €35 million plus €5 million in add-ons.
"Proud and excited to start this new chapter," Lookman wrote on X after being presented on Tuesday, wearing the number 22 shirt. "New city, new challenges, new energy. I'm ready to give everything on the pitch and fight for these colours every time I step out there."
He wasn't kidding.
Copa del Rey is now Atlético's best shot
The bigger picture matters here. Atlético sit 10 points behind Barcelona in LaLiga and face Club Brugge in a Champions League play-off in a couple of weeks. Realistically, the Copa del Rey is their clearest path to a trophy — and it would be their first since 2012-13.
The semi-final draw takes place on Friday. Barcelona, Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad are the other three teams left. Atlético and Betis will face each other again on Sunday in the league at the Metropolitano, which should be a rather different kind of atmosphere after this hammering.
For now, though, the takeaway is simple: Atlético signed a player on Monday and by Thursday he looked like he'd been there for months. If Lookman can sustain this level — if the Ruggeri partnership keeps clicking, if Baena keeps finding him with those angled passes — then Simeone might have just found the missing piece he's been searching for all season.
Two training sessions. Sometimes that's all you need.
