FORMER Celtic defender Jeremie Frimpong suffered Europa League Final woe at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin last night.
The one-time Hoops fans’ favourite and his Bayer Leverkusen team-mates were thrashed 3-0 by Atalanta with striker Ademola Lookman firing in a hat-trick.
Remarkably, the Bundesliga champions went into the showdown following a 51-game unbeaten run before being taken apart by the Serie A outfit.
Frimpong, who joined the German club in an £11.8million switch from Celtic in January 2021 after making his debut for Neil Lennon’s side two years earlier, was left shattered in his team’s dramatic nosedive and his misery was complete in 81 minutes when he was hooked by boss Xabi Alonso.
HAPPIER TIMES…Jeremie Frimpong holds the League Cup after the 1-0 win over Ibrox opposition at Hampden in December 2019.
The 23-year-old Dutch wing-back went off with the Germans trailing by three goals from Lookman who claimed the first in the 12th minute and curled in No.2 14 minutes later.
He completed his treble with a powerful left-foot drive after the turnaround and now has the distinction of becoming the first player to score a hat-trick in a Europa League Final.
Frimpong, who picked up his first honour at Parkhead in a 1-0 League Cup Final triumph over Steven Gerrard’s Ibrox side in December 2019, could still end the season as a winner.
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.
