Romelu Lukaku has settled in quite well since joining Inter Milan from Manchester United last summer, hasn’t he?
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The 26-year-old Belgian forward already has 14 Serie A goals (in 19 games) to his name, plus another four in various other competitions, including the opening goal in Inter’s 4-1 Coppa Italia victory over Cagliari on Tuesday.
Just like he hasn’t taken long to get started in his Inter career, Lukaku needed very little time to start firing on Tuesday. He struck the ball with 00:20 on the clock, and by the time it read 00:21 he had already put Inter 1-0 ahead.
Romelu Lukaku wasted NO TIME!
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) January 14, 2020
Stream the Coppa Italia on ESPN+ ➡️ https://t.co/cqNwgxXoQz pic.twitter.com/y7X2uROCBj
That 20th-second strike stood up as the potential game-winner for more than 70 minutes, until Cagliari pulled a consolation goal back late. Fortunately for Inter, Lukaku had already bagged his second of the game (49th minute), sandwiching a supplementary goal from Borja Valero in the first half. Andrea Ranocchia tacked on a late insurance goal and Inter are through to the quarterfinals on Jan. 29.
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Lukaku’s early successes at Inter have been such that it almost seems impossible that he could have been anything but a similarly raging success at Manchester United. If Inter manage to do the unthinkable — dethrone Juventus by winning the Serie A title — he’ll almost certainly be remembered as the key protagonist. After Tuesday’s game, Lukaku sounded like a player who was back to enjoying the game when he gave all credit to his Inter teammates, coaches, staff and fans — translation via Google:
#Lukaku: "Mi sono ambientato bene all'Inter? Il merito è dei compagni, dell'allenatore, dello staff e dei tifosi. L'Inter era la migliore opzione per me, io posso aiutare questa squadra a raggiungere le sue ambizioni. Io sono un uomo da squadra, penso solo alla squadra, non a me" pic.twitter.com/1Z0pLFsCye
— Daniele Mari (@marifcinter) January 14, 2020