FRIMPONG EURO WOE
FORMER Celtic defender Jeremie Frimpong experienced defeat in the Europa League Final at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium Friday night.
The former Hoops fan favourite and his Bayer Leverkusen teammates were blasted 3-0 by Atalanta, with striker Ademola Lookman scoring a hat-trick.
Surprisingly, the Bundesliga champions entered the match with a 51-game unbeaten streak before being thrashed by the Serie A side.
Frimpong, who joined the German club for £11.8 million from Celtic in January 2021 after making his debut for Neil Lennon’s side two years earlier, was left devastated by his team’s spectacular collapse, and his agony was complete in 81 minutes when he was hooked by manager Xabi Alonso.
The 23-year-old Dutch wing-back entered the game with the Germans losing by three goals to Lookman, who scored the first in the 12th minute and added the second 14 minutes later.
He completed his triple with a powerful left-foot drive after the turnaround, making him the first player to score a hat-trick in a Europa League final.
Frimpong, who won his first honour at Parkhead in a 1-0 League Cup Final victory over Steven Gerrard’s Ibrox side in December 2019, might yet finish the season with a win.
Alonso’s club can complete the domestic double when they take on second-tier Kaiserslautern in the German Cup Final on Saturday night.
Frimpong has been linked with Arsenal and Manchester United in recent weeks and is valued at £34million by Leverkusen with Celtic in line for a percentage of the profits with a sell-on clause.
