Romelu Lukaku
What did you make of the goal and what did you make of the performance in general?
“I am happy in general with the performance. It was a tough match against a strong opponent. It was tough for us in the first half to find little gaps, accelerate the game, be dangerous and create touches in the box ball. We played with a high intensity and had many ball recoveries. We had to be focused and aware with our defence because they have a lot of individual quality upfront. We did all that and in second half we found it easier to find spaces in between the lines, to accelerate, create half-chances, deliveries. And the cross from Azpi was good and dangerous because it comes from a difficult place to defend around the box. The target was the second post and Kai [Havertz] and Romelu were there. It was nice and at the same time a decisive goal that was very good for us. The performance from Romelu was not easy. We didn’t create many chances for him, we did not create many deliveries. But he’s the type of guy who doesn’t lose confidence and belief. And that is why he is here and makes him a world-class striker.”
How much of an impact is Romelu Lukaku making given there haven’t been a huge amount of chances created for him?
“It’s super hard and super important, it’s as easy as that. You don’t find many strikers of that quality and the guys who are there to score regularly are so, so important. There are not many goals in football and goals change the momentum of the match. It gives the whole team a lot of belief that maybe one chance is enough for him to score. So it’s not the only talent he brings, he brings belief and he takes the pressure off the shoulders of other guys around him. He has the personality not to be impatient or lose confidence. He does want he does at a very high level and we are very happy with us. There are many reasons we are maybe not at our top level at the moment. But right now with pre-season, international breaks, and so on, I am happy with how we play and feel we are very competitive. We are able to handle difficulties in matches and today I liked what I have seen on the sidelines. They are a strong opponent and we have accept to respect them. They changed their line-ups, their mentality when they arrived when they played us, we need to adapt and find solutions. This is what we do at the moment.”
Has the quick impact Lukaku has made surprised you and does it excite you?
“I don’t want to be the mood-breaker but we did win also without Romelu and produced results. But he was the type of profile we were missing in our team, not just because of the talent but because of the personality. He is super a humble guy, loves football, loves to train, is such a good communicator in the dressing room, and is open to everybody. That creates a certain energy around him in the team that we are proud of and what to have because we believe in it. The spirit and atmosphere last year took us very far and it’s important we have it again. We have it with Romelu because he loves Chelsea, he knows what the club is about. He is not shy to speak out loud here and help with his goals. If we miss him for one game, or hopefully not more games, we will try to find different solutions to we create chances But we have him and we are very pleased because he gives everybody around him confidence. It is the best start for strikers to score, to be decisive. There is no talk, no video, that can have the same impact.”
