Robin: Happy Lukaku’s got his mojo back
ROBIN VAN PERSIE believes Romelu Lukaku is on recordbreaking scoring form because his exit from Manchester United has put him on cloud nine.
Former Holland striker Van Persie knows about the pressures of playing at Old Trafford, having served United for three years between 2012 and 2015.
Now, having watched Inter striker Lukaku score in nine successive Europa League games to set a new record,Van Persie says it is because he has found his joy again in Italy.
It has earned Inter tonight’s semi-final against Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk.
“Lukaku looks happy,” said Van Persie. “Inter manager Antonio Conte works his players very hard – Stefan DeVrij once told me that pre-season is very hard. But you can see that they are acting as one.
“He made the right choice; he’s got his confidence back. He’s having a great time, he looks happy. Based on his last years at United, he wasn’t, so he has found his happiness again.”
Lukaku’s 23 goals in 36 Serie A games this season are only five shy of the 28 he scored in the Premier League for United in two full seasons.
It was enough to push Inter to within a point of champions Juventus in a relatively successful first season for former Chelsea boss Conte.
Even so, that has not stopped the volatile Inter manager from moaning about a lack of support from the club, where he still has two years of his three-year contract to run.
Inter president Steven Zhang and his senior executives Beppe Marotta and Piero Ausilio flew out to Germany to join up with the squad ahead of the semifinal. However, any talks about Conte’s future will take place only at the conclusion of the complete Europa League campaign, with the final in Cologne on Friday night.
INTER (probable): Handanovic; Godin, De Vrij, Bastoni; D’Ambrosio, Brozovic, Barella, Gagliardini, Young; Lukaku, Martinez.
SHAKHTAR (probable): Pyatov; Dodo, Krivtsov, Bondar, Matvyenko; Antonio, Stepanenko; Marlos, Patrick, Taison; Morais.