Inter vice-president Javier Zanetti confirms he wrote to Romelu Lukaku after the nightmare performance for Belgium at the World Cup. ‘Games like that can happen for strikers.’
The centre-forward, on loan from Chelsea, is already on his way back home from Qatar following the elimination in the group phase of the tournament.
Lukaku was only able to play 54 minutes of football over two games, as he arrived in doubt with a muscular injury that he first sustained towards the end of August.
“I wrote to him after the game, it’s really sad, because he did so much to be there,” Zanetti told ESPN after Lukaku’s series of misses in the draw with Croatia.
“He was coming off a long injury, Belgium waited for him and in the end he managed to play one half. Games like that happen for strikers, I said the same to Lautaro Martinez after Saudi Arabia: when you score, everything changes in your mind.”
The compilation of errors from that game against Croatia are viral on the internet and brought back the reputation Lukaku had before winning the Scudetto at Inter.
“Lukaku leaves the World Cup after having several chances to score, both with his feet and his head. He also hit the woodwork, so was unlucky.
“As for the final chance, he wasn’t expecting it, the defender in front was shielding his view.”