Belgium 5-0 Azerbaijan: Romelu Lukaku hits four goals within twenty minutes, Belgians run riot in European qualifiers

Romelu Lukaku continues his enterprising maneuver in European qualifiers as he smashes four goals against Azerbaijan in quest of next summer’s EURO, to be staged in Germany. His onslaught helped Belgium edge past minnows Azerbaijan as the Belgians went on the top spot of their qualification table.

Romelu Lukaku- the beast

Romelu Lukaku has been one of the super strikers this season for Italian side Roma. After having few quiet seasons at Inter and Chelsea, the Belgian record goal scorer have been firing shots this season. Under the strict vigil of his ‘favorite’ boss Jose Mourinho, with whom Romelu is working together for the third time, previous stints being in Chelsea and Manchester United, Lukaku has transformed himself into a beast, which has helped his side Roma stage some incredible games in Serie A. Along with his strike partner Paulo Dybala, ‘Big Rom’, as he is affectionately called, has been miraculous this season, and is set to go for the kill even more in the remainder of this season.

Last night, in Belgium’s European qualifiers against Azerbaijan, Romelu continued his onslaught against minnows, when he scored a thirteen minute hattrick, to which he further added one more goal within next seven minutes, and helped the former world no.1 side Belgium maul their opponents. With his last night’s exploits, Lukaku reached great heights on the international goal-scorers charts, as he climbed to the seventh spot in that roster, behind Ronaldo, Ali Daei, Messi, Sunil Chhetri, Dahari and Puskas. He has amassed 83 goals in 113 Belgian appearances, which is a record for his side, and 50 more than his country’s stalwart, Eden Hazard, who has recently decided to call time on his stellar career.

A sumptuous onslaught within 35 minutes

Romelu had been named in the starting line-up by Tedesco, in a traditional 3-4-2-1 formation. Manchester City winger Jeremy Doku, who recently rose to the occasion of scoring and assist in Premier League games, was instrumental in providing Rom with his first goal, when he headed in from an inch-perfect cross to make the score 1-0 up. His second of the night came during Israfilov’s sent-off on Castagne’s knock, thus scoring his second within ten minutes.

Leicester star Wout Faes was pivotal in helping Big Rom score his hattrick, with Orel Mangala assisting him on his fourth goal, all within the first half, as he was taken off at half-time. His four-goal haul last night is his first in the international stage, with his previous quadruple coming for Everton in their 6-3 victory against Bournemouth in February 2017.

As of the present scenario, Lukaku leads the goal scoring charts with 14 goals already, which has also taken him far away from his closest rivals Ronaldo and Mbappe, who have netted 10 and 9 times respectively in the qualifying campaign. These numbers have been a record by Romelu Lukaku, which has surpassed the benchmark of 13 shots set by Northern Ireland’s David Healy in 2008, and equaled by Poland’s superstar Robert Lewandowski.

Belgium remains unbeaten since Tedesco joined their side in January, having already qualified for EURO 2024, to be staged in Germany.