Nigeria, March 23 -- Diego Simeone has hailed the growing influence of Ademola Lookman following his standout display in Sunday's dramatic Madrid derby, despite Atletico Madrid falling to a 3-2 defeat against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu.

The Nigerian forward opened the scoring in the 33rd minute, finishing from close range after a well-worked team move to give Atletico an early advantage.

In doing so, Lookman became the first Nigerian to score in the Madrid derby and the eighth Atletico player in the 21st century to score on his La Liga derby debut.

Reflecting on his performance, Simeone praised the attacker's steady progress and contribution to the team.

"He's been improving, working very hard, offering us different options ...