Belgium, and particularly captain Romelu Lukaku endured a nightmare start to their EURO 2024 campaign, as they suffered a 1-0 loss to Slovakia in Frankfurt, despite having two goals ruled out for offside and handball.
The Roma loanee had the ball in the back of the net on two occasions. The most agonising for the Chelsea-owned striker was the second, which was chalked off after a handball in the build-up.
Despite being Belgium’s all-time leading goalscorer, Lukaku squandered a number of big chances in front of goal, including one after just three minutes after Jeremy Doku’s ball into the area.
Lukaku grew visibly more and more frustrated as the game went on and as the chances kept passing him by.
What next for Lukaku?
Overall, the 31-year-old had enjoyed an encouraging season while on loan with Roma, netting 13 goals from 32 Serie A outings, plus an impressive tally of seven from 13 matches in the Europa League.
Despite being tied to Chelsea on a contract until 2026, Lukaku has spent the last two seasons back in Italy, and it is possible that he could return for a third consecutive spell on the peninsula with a new club.
Multiple outlets in Italy suggest that Napoli are keen to bring Lukaku to the Stadio Maradona for the 2024-25 campaign as a potential replacement for Victor Osimhen should the Partenopei cash in on the Nigerian this summer.
The Belgian has enjoyed a sound working relationship with new Napoli coach Antonio Conte, having won the Serie A title during their time together at Inter.
The merchant of them all Lakaka
Next is Milan ❤️
Seeing tedesco run off celebrating like he had won the euro’s was comedy gold. number 2 ranked team in europe 😂