Lukaku recommits to Belgium’s cause

Belgium’s record scorer Romelu Lukaku said he considered quitting the national side after last year’s disappointing European Championship but has been sold on the vision of the team’s new management and is keen to press on.

Lukaku, 31, has also been named co-captain of the team along with Kevin De Bruyne by new coach Rudi Garcia and will wear the armband on Thursday when Belgium meet Ukraine in the first leg of their Nations League playoff in Murcia, Spain.

“I’ll be honest, after the defeat against France I was very disappointed. I told Jan Vertonghen that I didn’t feel any more connection with the national team,” said Lukaku of a miserable 2024 for the Belgians.

Belgium were tamely eliminated by France in the last-16 of Euro 2024 in Germany and then failed to finish in the top two of their Nations League group.

“There were a lot of things I couldn’t accept during the Euros, including the atmosphere (in the squad). But I’ll tell you about it another day,” he said.

Lukaku, who sat out Nations League matches in September and October, was persuaded to continue his international career after a discussion with the Belgian football association’s new technical director Vincent Mannaert.

“He presented me with a new vision. Then I realised that I couldn’t stop like that. I had good conversations with the coach (Garcia), after which I was sure that I wanted to bring Belgium back to the top.”

Lukaku, who has netted 85 goals in 120 matches since his national team debut as a 16-year-old in 2010, said he did not want to linger on Belgium’s poor return last year.

“The most important thing now is to focus on tomorrow. We want to show our winning mentality on the pitch again. We have to show our supporters that we are proud to wear the shirt,” he added.