Romelu Lukaku celebrated his birthday with two goals against Sassuolo and reiterated ‘the most important thing is Inter,’ so he’s ready to sit on the bench in the Champions League.
It was the perfect way to celebrate his 30th birthday, as the Belgian bagged a brace at San Siro in the exhilarating 4-2 win over Sassuolo.
He opened the scoring with a great solo effort, turning Ruan Tressoldi to blast into the top corner, then closed it with an angled drive on Marcelo Brozovic’s assist.
“I am happy, we won the game, it was important for us because every time we play Sassuolo at home, they cause us huge problems,” Lukaku told Sky Sport Italia.
“The coach said this was a match-point for the top four. We’re in good shape, we won a lot of games recently and we have to keep going.”
It was their seventh consecutive victory in all competition, just days after beating Milan 2-0 in the Champions League semi-final, and allowed them to leapfrog Lazio into third place in Serie A.
“In my view, we can always improve physically. We are in good shape, all the players give their contribution and we score lots of goals. We can still win two trophies, on Tuesday we have a very difficult match against the side that won the Scudetto last season, but we are on home turf and can do well.”
Since the start of February, nobody in Serie A has been involved in as many goals as Lukaku, as he scored seven and assisted four.
When he is on this kind of form, does he think he ought to be starting against Milan in the second leg on Tuesday?
“Of course, every player wants to start, but the coach has to make his choices for the team. As I have always said, the most important thing is Inter and I give my all for the team.”
The centre-forward is still owned by Chelsea and Inter director Beppe Marotta said today there was a ‘six out of 10’ chance he’d remain at San Siro next season.
As it was his birthday, his family was on the touchline, including his brother and former Lazio player Jordan.