Match winner Lukaku thanks Barella for assist
The Belgian had been left out of the starting lineup, but certainly proved decisive as a substitute
Inter striker Romelu Lukaku feels that the team could still have scored a second goal to give themselves a bigger advantage going into the second leg of their Champions League round of sixteen tie against Porto.
Speaking to Italian broadcaster Amazon Prime following the match, via FCInterNews, the Belgian gave his immediate reaction to the Nerazzurri’s narrow victory, and stressed that he’s focused on doing everything he can to help the team.
Lukaku came off the bench to score Inter’s winning goal against Porto.
The Belgian had been left out of the starting lineup, but certainly proved decisive as a substitute, looking sharp and eventually rewarded for his efforts with a goal to break the Portuguese champions’ very stubborn resistance.
For his part, Lukaku is happy to have scored the Nerazzurri’s winner on the night, but would have still hoped to have extended their lead further against ten men, given that there are still ninety more minutes of football to be played in three weeks’ time.
“That shot meant everything, I’m very happy to have won the match,” the Belgian said.
“We wanted to win, we could have scored the second goal but we didn’t manage to,” he continued.
Asked if he feels a certain sense of liberation following his goal, Lukaku stressed that “The most important thing was to win.”
“I’m not focused on myself as an individual, I think about doing my absolute best for the good of Inter,” he added, “I’m happy about the win and now we have to keep going in this direction.”
The 29-year-old added that “I’m happy to have gotten the assist from Nicolo Barella, I’ve always said he’s a player I’d go to war with.”
The pair had an ugly on-field row last week and were told off by coach Simone Inzaghi, though they assured that they remain great friends and were simply letting off steam.
A similar incident occurred during Wednesday’s match, as it was Andre Onana and Edin Dzeko who were screaming at each other, Hakan Calhanoglu trying to prevent the situation deteriorating by clamping a hand over the goalkeeper’s mouth.
