Speaking at the pre-match press conference ahead of tomorrow night’s EURO 2020 qualifier against Russia, Romelu Lukaku has provided an update on his condition having spent the past few days training separately.
“I am feeling 100%. I had an inflammation in one of my toes, but now it’s okay. Everything is going fine both with Inter and also with Belgium, the level of training is very high,” he said.
He was then asked about the possibility of playing in Russia later down the line in his career.
“Why not? A good friend of mine played here, Quincey Promes, he told me it’s a competitive league, the Russian national team is very strong.”
Next he was asked on the racist incident he had to deal with earlier on in the season.
“In Cagliari it was a difficult moment for me. I was warned about racism before leaving for Italy. Serie A and UEFA have to do more. You can raise a sign with ‘no to racism’, but you really have to defeat it. I like Italy, people on the street are very kind to me and my family likes it too.”
Despite already being qualified, Lukaku then went on to insist that Belgium will not let up.
“We come to win, we will not pity anyone. We see this match as a final, we know that Russia will be motivated, but we are not here to play a friendly match.”
In conclusion he spoke on the importance of managers being honest with him.
“When I’m not doing well, I want the manager to tell me. I’m 26 and I can still improve. Koeman, Mourinho and Conte were honest and they didn’t lie to me. My relationship with Solskjaer was also good, but I wanted to leave: I told him in March and I respect him because he respected my choice, even if he wanted to keep me.”
