He missed it all! Injured since August, Romelu Lukaku accompanied the Belgian selection to Qatar, when he had only played 256 minutes of play under the colors of Inter Milan this season. Apologies, the 29-year-old striker will not miss it. But last night, when Roberto Martinez called on him to try to unblock the situation against Croatia (0-0), “Big Rom” did not respond. Entering the break, instead of Dries Mertens, he will have had a lot of opportunities in 45 minutes spent on the meadow of Al Rayyan.
Playing as a fulcrum, he offered solutions by fixing the opposing defenders. A head on target (48th), [avant de frapper le poteau croate](
Rom’s Big Fail!https://t.co/9mJInrhbGV
— Foot Mercato (@footmercato) December 1, 2022
), not really inspired (60th). Served by Meunier in front of goal, he seemed surprised, far from the hungry fox that we knew, and sent the ball aside (86th). And this gesture of the chest in front of the wide open goal in added time (90th + 1)! On the next action, Gvardiol easily dominated (90th + 2). A culpable lack of realism, when doing the accounts.
A fit of anger that speaks volumes
Belgium finishes 3rd in Group F, behind Morocco and Croatia, and will therefore not see the eighth. The silence of his striker, nicknamed “Lukaka” on social networks, is undoubtedly for something. At the very marked final whistle, Romelu Lukaku was first seen seeking comfort from Thierry Henry, the coach of the Red Devils attackers. The cameras present in the stadium then surprised him smashing the plexiglass of one of the sidelines with a punch. Symbol of this debacle, Lukaku will not have been able to weigh like in 2018, where he scored 4 goals, with a 3rd third place finish for the Belgians.
However, in the country, we do not want to push it (too much). Among his teammates, Jérémy Doku took his defense from the final whistle. “We had chances, after that we were unlucky. You just had to put them down. (On Lukaku) He had chances but it’s not just him, it’s everyone, we all tried to put ourselves in the best positions to score. Yes, he missed chances but I don’t think it was his fault.” said the Stade Rennais striker. If Romelu Lukaku will try to recover from this new affront, Roberto Martinez has already decided to throw in the towel.
Lukaku não escondeu a frustração após a eliminação do Mundial. pic.twitter.com/Go9yUQI2zV
— B24 (@B24PT) December 1, 2022
