The Story behind Romelu Lukaku’s Celebration That Becomes a Talk

DBasia.news – Romelu Lukaku was again in the spotlight when Inter Milan met AC Milan in the 2020-2021 Serie A continued. Not about performance, but about a celebration that invites polemic.

In a match that took place at the Giuseppe Meazza on Sunday (21/2), Inter beat their city rivals 3-0. Lukaku scored the closing goal in the 66th minute after Lautaro Martinez broke into the Rossoneri goal twice at the start of the half.

Interestingly, Lukaku was quite emotional in celebrating the goal. He ran to the corner of the field and said something while pointing at himself.

Many parties considered Lukaku’s celebration to avenge Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s treatment at the previous meeting. As is known, the two players were close to fighting when Inter and Milan met in the Coppa Italia quarter-final, January 26th.

At that time, Lukaku’s emotions were ignited by Ibrahimovic’s provocation. He must be calmed by other players to prevent unwanted things.

The relatively short period of time made Lukaku still hold a grudge against Ibrahimovic. To score in front of the Swedish bomber was certainly the perfect revenge.

Even so, Lukaku did not mention Ibrahimovic’s name during the celebration as many have alleged. But he made innuendo implicitly.

“This is me, this is me. I am the best,” Lukaku said while celebrating a goal quoted from Il Corriere della Sera.

This statement is a quip in response to Ibrahimovic. Ibra had indeed underestimated Lukaku’s ability when provoking him in the Coppa Italia.

Ibrahimovic himself seemed to witness Lukaku’s celebration firsthand. But he was reluctant to be provoked and chose to arouse his teammates mentally.

Ironically, Ibrahimovic only played 75 minutes in this match. He was pulled out and replaced by Samu Castillejo because he complained of a sore leg.