Romelu Lukaku can cap off his debut campaign for Inter Milan by winning the Europa League and matching Ronaldo Nazario in the process.
Lukaku continued his stellar form by scoring a brace against Shakhtar Donetsk on Monday’s 5-0 win to send Inter through to the Europa League final. It took his haul to 14 goals and four assists in his last 10 outings in the competition.
Quite the turnaround it is considering that 12 months ago he was surplus to requirements at Manchester United.
But the 27-year-old has since made himself indispensable for Inter through his sheer power, pace, and superb finishing ability. These qualities were evident again in Dusseldorf, where he scored twice with two excellent finishes.
A first piece of European silverware now awaits on Friday’s final against Sevilla in Cologne, along with the chance to equal or break a prestigious record held by none other than Ronaldo Nazario.
The Brazilian legend holds the record for the most goals scored by an Inter player in his debut season in 1997/98 by scoring 34 goals in 47 outings across all competitions. He also won the UEFA Cup back then.
Lukaku, on the other hand, is on 33 goals in 50 appearances with a game to spare this season.
Moreover, the Belgian is the first player to score in 10 successive Europa League/UEFA Cup matches.
“I think everythingโs going well at the minute,” Lukaku told BT Sport on his achievements.
“Records are nice to be broken, but at the end of the day weโre here to win and the team we are up against are the favorites.”
Lautaro Martinez also bagged a brace with Danilo DโAmbrosio being the other goalscorer to complete the rout for Inter.
โThe team is doing well,” continued Lukaku.
“Everybody is trying to do their best, we worked really hard in the little training camp that we had,”
“It was tough, but I think now we see the results of the hard work. Physically and tactically, everybody is at 100 percent and we can keep going, so thatโs a good thing.
“I think we knew they were really good in combinations, so as long as kept the center of defense close, we wouldnโt have any problems, because our physicality was a bit too much for them.
“In the second half, we showed our power and our patterns of play disrupted them a lot.”
Lukaku will now be gunning to end Inter’s barren run of going 10 seasons winning no silverware on Friday.
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