09 June 2023 , 09:00
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Picture the scene. Chelsea’s jubilant players are boarding their bus after robbing Bayern Munich of the Champions League in Bavaria when Salomon Kalou, trophy in hand, sees a young team-mate looking a little detached from the celebrations.
Romelu Lukaku, 18 years old and on the outer fringes of Roberto di Matteo’s squad, is present but not really involved. He has made eight league appearances and four more in domestic cups but has watched the drama unfold from the stands because he was not named in the European squad.
As Kalou climbs the bus, he sees Lukaku and places the trophy on the Belgian striker’s lap - who swiftly asks for it to be removed. “I asked him to take it away immediately,” Lukaku told De Standaard sometime later. “I didn't want to touch it because just as with the Champions League I had no part in it at all."
He had trained with the team on the pitch the day before and danced in the dressing room with his teammates after, recalling a Didier Drogba speech that was “more beautiful than the title with Anderlecht” that he had won at 16. But when the excess medals were being handed around, he turned it down because “I didn’t deserve it, I would find it difficult to accept.”
In another interview with Het Nieuwsblad, he added: “I don't touch anything I don't deserve. That's why I also didn't touch the FA Cup. I don't like people talking to me about the Champions League. It wasn't me, but my team that won.”
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In the 11 years since a player who has cost his clubs a combined £280m in transfer fees has not only continued his wait to touch the most important piece of club silverware but failed to score a single goal beyond the round of 16 - finding the net 18 times in group stage or second round fixtures.
Yet tomorrow the now 30-year-old will attempt to right the wrongs and silence the doubters for Inter Milan, while still being contracted to Chelsea, against a Manchester City team that has a similarly complicated relationship with the Champions League.
Lukaku is not even expected to start, with former City striker Edin Dzeko instead set to partner Lautaro Martinez, but he should come off the bench at the end of a season that has been difficult personally despite his loan club’s European run.
Romelu Lukaku arrives in Munich before Chelsea's Champions League win against Bayern in 2012It began with a goal on his second competitive debut against Lecce but a knee tendon injury restricted his playing time until the World Cup, where he endured a nightmare in front of goal as Belgium crashed out early, and then found his path back into Inter’s starting XI restricted.
“Lukaku is very important,” Inter coach Simone Inzaghi said before a semi-final win over Milan that was surprisingly comfortable from start to finish. “We signed him for games like these, but he had an injury at the start of the season that meant he was unavailable for nearly four months.
“Now he is feeling very good again, he is scoring regularly and he’s helping the team, as are the other players. Clearly, he’s another attacking option for us and is a very important man to have for a coach.”
But a player who has changed clubs for more than a quarter of a billion should be far more than “another attacking option” and after this weekend the future becomes uncertain again.
New Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino had been expected to give Lukaku a chance to impress in pre-season but the striker has reportedly made it clear that he has little desire to return to a club where he has struggled to make an impact across two spells.
Chelsea’s squad needs trimming but they are also in need of a regular goalscorer. The likelihood is he remains in Serie A, probably at Inter, and a meaningful impact in a surprise win over City would not just increase the chances of that happening but cement his status and level of popularity as one of the most confusing, frustrating players of the past 15 years could never attain in England.
This time he might even give Ol’ Big Ears a kiss.
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