Heading into tomorrow night’s massive UEFA Champions League clash at home against Cristiano Ronaldo and Juventus, Manchester United striker Romelu Lukaku made a fair amount of news in relation to the opponent. Lukaku listed out the two players that he believes United needs to focus on in addition to Ronaldo Tuesday night.
He hinted at the fact that he would like to move to Serie A, and preferably Juventus someday. However, none of these topics came up today when he met the media ahead of the UCL group stage match. There was still plenty of news to discuss though.
Here’s the video below:
Lukaku only has four goals in 12 matches this season for United, and if stays off target tomorrow, it will mark his worst scoring drought since he moved over from Everton for £75 million in the summer of 2017. Yet he’s still firing at will with Belgium, bagging a brace versus Switzerland over the last international break.
When asked why he finds it easier to score for his national team than he does for United right now, Lukaku responded:
“I don’t know. With Belgium I’ve been playing for 10 years, since I was 16. Players know me much more. Here I still think my teamwork between myself and my team-mates can improve and be much better. It’s something that we’re working.”
“The players need to know me and know my movement. When that starts clicking I think the results I have with Belgium will also come here.”
Lukaku also admits that United must find a way to overcome their really slow starts.
“In the first half we started slowly – no initiative on the ball, no movement,” the 25-year-old said.
“In the second half, everything that we said we wanted to do in the first half we did. That’s why we came back and got great results. Now the key is to start games like we do in the second half.”
Manchester United vs Juventus FYIs
Injury Report for both clubs: go to this link
Kickoff: Tuesday October 23, 8pm BST, Old Trafford
United starting XI Prediction: go to this link
Odds via Odds Checker: United 12/5, Draw 12/5, Juventus 7/5
Prediction: Juventus 1, United 0
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, is currently a regular contributor to SB Nation, WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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