Lukaku: “They had given me for dead. Naples was my revenge”

There are great sportsmen and then there are the totems. Those to whom the presence is enough to take over the scene. Romelu Lukaku is one of these: in the eyes he still has the slag of past disappointments, but the head and soul are always in the right mood. They call it winning mentality. The one with which Napoli helped win the Scudetto on the first shot.

Lukaku, rewind the ribbon and go back to the discovered coach. If you close your eyes, what do you see?

“Many people who celebrate, smile, the joy of a city. It was beautiful. I had never lived such a party, a unique experience”.

Thesis confirmed: with Conte and Lukaku you win.

“We have the same mentality: only with work improves. He has a football idea that adapts to my characteristics and I, when I am at home, I am looking for learning the concepts of play he wants. Our relationship has always worked, because he knows how to give me every day those stimuli to try to be the strongest”.

Is Antonio a bit his football father?

“Yes, as Roberto Martinez in Belgium were, Koeman at the Averton and Ariel Jacobs at the Anderlecht. They are the ones who changed my life.”

How much is he in the arrival of De Bruyne?

“Very little. Just two calls, very simple. I explained to him what it means to play here, that we are a team that wants to improve and confirm himself for next year. It will be a great challenge but he likes challenges”.

Conte said: “Those who bring the Scudetto to the chest is by definition the favorite among the favorites”.

“It’s a new championship, we start from scratch. We are here to prepare well now, then we’ll see”.

The differences between Lukaku arrived at Inter in 2019 and today?

“I am more experienced, safe. And I do a lot of tactical work at home: I look at the opposing teams, I have more control of the things that happen and I see the action before it arrives. Before I was more reactive, more dynamic. People can say that the physique has changed, but even now, in each race, there are two or three actions in which I can make the difference starting from afar. But I am more altruistic, I say the assists.

Was Naples his revenge?

“People had doubts about me, but I was convinced that we would do something special.”

And did winning in Inter win made everything more special?

“No, it would have been the same thing against Milan or Juve. The path has been special. We fought to the last second. The last three weeks have been super stressful, with positive and negative emotions that mixed, up and down as in the Russian mountains. For this it was more beautiful”.

His last game in the Champions League was the final lost with Inter in Istanbul. Can that disappointment transform it into energy for its Naples?

“I lived it very bad for a year, I am sincere. See how things went … I couldn’t say my things (on Inter, editor’s note), I let people speak because I am not one who loves to pass through the press and attack, I prefer to react football. Now we look forward, we are again in the Champions League: let’s have fun”.

What annoyed her after Istanbul?

“You see things, but if people don’t know the truth is another story, you can’t understand why I made choices … In my career, every time I told the truth it was seen as an uncomfortable thing. And now I want to avoid controversy”.

Give a vote to his first season with Napoli?

“I wanted to do better, when you are ambitious you always want to do better. I could do more: 14 goals and 10 assists can be a nice booty but it is not the best, I always try to raise the bar, you cannot get perfectly but you need to try to get closer. But I’m happy, because the team has won”.

At 32 years old and with the status of Top Player, can you still improve?

“Of course, we have the tools to do more and more. At my house I have a gym. Messi, Ronaldo, Lewandowski, Ibra are super, but my example is Benzema, who after 32 won the golden ball. We have to look forward with the right mentality. Lebron James also says so.”

Did Ibra mention: that dispute in the derby was clarified?

“It is not needed. But I have respect for his career: he was a unique player”.

“I told him that he has to understand the movements, as we play. I talk to him as with Lang and Kevin. If he understands the movements he will see that every time the ball arrives he will have three options: I in the first year with Conte I put 4 months …”.

First summer without market anxiety. Was it shocking?

“I would say more” Peace & Love ” -laughs, editor’s note -.

He said he realized he was poor when he saw his mom mixing the water with milk. If he thinks about where he arrived, what makes it more proud?

“I am the man I wanted to become. I gave the opportunity to all my family to go to school and at the university. In the most beautiful moments of my career they were always there at the stadium: my mom, my children, my brother. Look, on my cell phone there is my mom who raises the Scudetto Cup (the exhibition, editor’s note). See, it is a revenge. And also in suffering, as an adult, she has always given me a push. That I spent and takes something, gives me energy: I do not want my children to relive what I have lived.

“Coccolone. I always hug them, I like contact. It is very difficult for me to be severe with them. With my mom, my girlfriend and my brother I am harder”.

He has always been on the front line against racism: he has seen steps forward since he started playing today?

“Complicated to talk about it every time. We should do, rather than talking”.

The goal with Cagliari closed the circle: a goal at Lukaku, in progression, of power. And angry exultation, liberating.

“There was also a little technique eh, I made a tunnel -he laughs again -. It was angry because they had given me all for dead, for three years they put the cross on me. Then, in the end, winning in that way, with the coach to whom a cross was put after Tottenham, was beautiful”.

“Yes, I took off an incredible weight. Winning once it happens. Do it twice means being a winner. Now we start again, let’s see what we can add on the bulletin board.”

Speak six languages. With the Neapolitan how are you?

“It’s difficult, honest. They speak very fast with each other. But if I put the right focus, I can try. I love when they greet in the morning:” We, Guagliù “… I like this thing very much. It makes me crazy, I am writing to all friends”. Naples entered him.