Ademola Lookman’s stunning Europa League hat-trick might have brought back memories for Albion fans.

The London-born Atalanta wideman scored a brilliant hat-trick as his side beat Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 in the final in Dublin.

In doing so, he handed Leverkusen their first defeat of the season.

It is now eight-and-a-half years since Lookman scored the first goal of his senior career – and it came at the Amex.

That too was a superb solo effort, thumped home after beating a man, and shocked a team with a long unbeaten record.

Lookman was playing for lowly Charlton against an Albion side who had not lost any of their previous 18 matches in the Championship campaign.

Albion eventually won the game 3-2 to return to top spot and send the Addicks into the relegation zone in the process.

But not before Lookman had given us a first glimpse of the qualities which were on display in Dublin last night.

He had just turned 18 and was making only his fifth senior appearance.

Up against him was Bruno, the best right-back in the division at the time and enjoying a superb season.

With just two minutes gone, Lookman bore down on the home skipper heading towards the North Stand.

He looked like he might go inside and, as the defender shaped to cut that route off, went down the outside insisted.

Still there looked no great danger but, from a fairly tight angle, he crashed a shot high past David Stockdale.

Former Albion skipper Adam Virgo, summarising for the BBC, said: “The full-back does everything right.

“You may look at David Stockdale at his near post but the strike was good.”

Albion doubled up on Lookman next time he got the ball as Charlton counter-attacked again.

Beram Kayal made a fine tackle but the ball ran for the visitors to set up Reza Ghoochannejhad for 2-0 inside five minutes.

Stockdale’s saves ensured Albion did not suffer further damage and they came back in the second half with goals from James Wilson, Bobby Zamora and Tomer Hemed.

The former Albion goalkeeper has no recollection of the match – or being clapped off by the North Stand at half-time.

But we had been given a first glimpse of the qualities on display in the Europa final.

Amid the glory of Dublin, Lookman said: “I’ve always had the confidence in my ability to create and score goals, to help my team-mates and assist them.

“The past few years I’ve been able to take my game to a new level on a more consistent basis. Maybe it would have come earlier.

“But it’s come now and I’m pleased with the progress I’ve made.

“This is just the beginning and I hope for more nights like this and to get better and better. That’s the key.”

Lookman has scored 30 goals in two seasons at Atalanta, but boss Gian Piero Gasparini admitted he has been surprised by the 26-year-old’s development in Bergamo.

He said: “We had a senior manager at Atalanta who had worked at Leicester and saw that we had the opportunity to bring him in.

“We thought he was a possible useful player for us, but no-one ever imagined that he could really make this much progress.

“He wasn’t overly-prolific in England but I changed his position a little bit and played him in a slightly more attacking role – and now he has achieved something that will remain in the annals of football history.”

Lookman's treble was the sixth hat-trick to be scored in the final of a major UEFA club competition and the first since Jupp Heynckes got three for Borussia Moenchengladbach against Twente in the 1975 UEFA Cup.

Albion played their own part in this season’s Europa League story.

Joao Pedro finished as third top scorer with six goals, behind two players who netted against the Seagulls.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was Europa top marksman with ten and Romelu Lukaku scored seven for Roma.

Only Atalanta had more clean sheets than the Seagulls in the competition.

The eventual winners had six in 13 games. Roma had five in 14, Leverkusen five in 13 and Albion five in only eight matches.

Roma goalkeeper Mate Svilar, who made some super stops in both games against Albion, made the most saves by any goalkeeper in this campaign with 54, ten more than his nearest rival.