Romelu Lukaku is yet to score at Euro 2024: two games, no goals, just like at the 2022 World Cup.
But this feels very different. In Qatar, he looked out of sorts and out of condition, rushed back from injury in an unsuccessful attempt to rescue Belgium’s miserable campaign. Here, he looks sharp. He has done everything but score.
Against Slovakia, he had two goals disallowed: one for offside, one for a handball by Lois Openda. He had another one ruled out against Romania, judged to be fractionally offside. It was close enough — a toe’s length — for Belgium’s supporters to howl in indignation when the automated-offside image was flashed up on the big screen.
No goals for Lukaku, then, but he set up the opener in the last game for Tielemans and was a constant threat to the Romania defence. With a little more luck, he would be well on course for the Golden Boot by now. But on this evidence, the goals will come.
