Romelu Lukaku made a terrific comeback to his team Inter Milan. In Serie A, the striker scored his first goal since rejoining Inter Milan 82 seconds later. However, Denzel Dumfries came up with the game-winning goal in stoppage time to give Inter a 2-1 victory at newly promoted Lecce on Saturday, just when it looked like the Nerazzurri may suffer a shock defeat. The team remained committed to the cause until the very end, according to Inter coach Simone Inzaghi.
The 29-year-old had the easiest task to open his account for the campaign after Matteo Darmian knocked Federico Dimarco’s cross straight into his path.
Romelu Lukaku reportedly took a pay cut to 8.5 million euros for the coming campaign to get out of Chelsea.
“We had a great spirit but we have to analyze why we were reduced to wining at the last second.”
AC Milan also got off to a winning start as it opened its defense of the league title with a 4-2 truimph over Udinese — albeit with the help of a controversial penalty. Inter brought back Lukaku on loan this offseason, a year after he left to join Chelsea shortly after firing the Nerazzurri to the Serie A title.
Serie A: Romelu Lukaku cheers his fans with a thunderous goal
Coincidentally, Romelu Lukaku kicked off his second stint at Inter at the same team he faced on his first debut when he scored in a 4-0 win three years ago. And it took the Belgium forward less than two minutes to reopen his Inter account. Federico Dimarco floated in a cross from the left and Matteo Darmian nodded it back across goal for Lukaku to head in from close range.
Unlike in Lukaku’s first debut, however, there was to be no capitulation from Lecce. And the home side levelled shortly after the break when Federico Di Francesco fed Assan Ceesay for an angled drive into the far bottom corner. Lecce almost took a surprise lead on the hour mark but Inter goalkeeper Samir Handanovic did well to parry Kristijan Bistrovic’s fierce free kick. It was all Inter after that, though. Dumfries saw a header come off the post, while Lukaku had a goal ruled out for a foul in the buildup.
Lecce goalkeeper Wladimiro Falcone also pulled off a number of impressive saves, including denying Lukaku late on. But Falcone was let down by his defenders in the fifth minute of stoppage time as they failed to mark Dumfries and he chested the ball in from point-blank range after Lautaro Martínez had nodded down a corner.
