There was no question who was the star man of Wednesday night’s Europa League final in Dublin, with Atalanta’s Ademola Lookman becoming the first man in almost 50 years to score a hat-trick in a European final.
Not only did he bag three goals, but two of them were particularly impressive finishes, and he was central to everything the Italian side did going forward.
Lookman was pivotal to Atalanta bringing home the Europa League trophy to Bergamo, their first major honour in 61 years. The Nigerian winger was awarded man-of-the-match and also earned an extremely rare honour from French publication L’Équipe.
The famously harsh match ratings in L’Équipe have seen many a team slated down through the years, and very few players have ever received a perfect 10/10.
Lookman’s Dublin masterclass certainly puts him in esteemed company.
The players to have received a 10/10 L’Équipe rating.
Lionel Messi was the first player to earn a perfect score on two separate occasions from the ruthless critics of L’Equipe. He got his second one back in 2012 after a five-goal showing in a tremendous 7-1 victory, ironically also against Lookman’s opponents Bayer Leverkusen.
Thanks to his five-goal showing against RB Leipzig in last year’s Champions League, Erling Haaland received his second 10/10 at only 22 years old.
In the second leg of the Champions League round of 16, he scored five goals in the space of 30 minutes in an eventual 7-0 win. Haaland’s first perfect showing came earlier the same season when he scored a hat-trick in a 6-3 derby win against Manchester United.
The first 10/10’s given by L’Equipe was in 1988 and they were awarded to Franck Sauzee and Bruno Martini, after outstanding performances for the French U21s in the same game against Greece.
Russian player Oleg Salenko received a 10/10 in 1994 for his game against Cameroon in which Russia won 6-1. Salenko became the only player in World Cup finals history to score five goals in a single game – a record he holds to this day.
In 1997, Lars Windfeld got a perfect 10 for his performance against Nantes in the Uefa Cup. Aarhus won 1-0. He became the first goalkeeper to get that rating.
It took 13 years for L’Equipe to give their next 10/10. It was Lionel Messi that got it against Arsenal in 2010. He scored all four goals in that Champions League win for Barcelona. Messi received his second one in 2012 in that 7-1 victory over Leverkusen.
Robert Lewandowski was awarded a perfect rating in 2013 for Dortmund after his hat-trick in the 4-1 Champions League semi-final victory against Real Madrid.
Carlos Eduardo got a 10/10 for his match against Guingamp in French Ligue 1. Nice won the game 7-2. Eduardo scored five goals in that away game.
Neymar entered the perfect 10’s list when PSG bet Dijon 8-0. He scored four goals that day.
Dusan Tadic got a 10/10 for Ajax’s 4-1 win over Real Madrid in the Champions League in 2019.
Lucas Moura was rewarded for his excellent game against Ajax in the same year Tadic got his 10/10. Moura entered the list of 10/10s with his hat-trick in Spurs’ infamous Champions League semi-final comeback against the Dutch side.
In 2019 Serge Gnabry also got a perfect score in Bayern Munich’s 7-2 victory against Moura’s Tottenham.
Kylian Mbappe got a 10/10 in France’s 8-0 win against Kazakhstan in 2021. He scored four goals in that friendly game.
Alban Lafont had a brilliant match against PSG for Nantes in 2022. He was the reason his team won 3-1 against the league leaders and he deservedly got that 10/10.
Dominik Livakovic got the top rating for his excellent performance against Brazil in the 2022 World Cup. He is the third and last goalkeeper to get a perfect 10.
It’s an eccentric list of players, but it’s clear that it’s no mean feat to earn a perfect rating from L’Équipe. Ademola Lookman has certainly earned his spot on this list with his Europa League final heroics in Dublin.