The Nerazzurri risk playing the match against the blaugrana, decisive for the Champions League group without their number 90, still struggling with recovery from the hamstring injury
Another missed opportunity, once again out. For the fifth consecutive time in the league, for the seventh game of the season. No Rome, then. And even Barcelona are now at very high risk. The Inter championship will restart, but without Romelu Lukaku in the Nerazzurri engine, still forced to the pits due to the hamstring injury he accused in training at the end of August: “distraction of the left thigh flexors” read the club statement. The recovery table said 20 days, but we are already in the month of absence today. A very long time that – above all – never seems to end.
crossing postponed
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Yet the sensations of the last few days seemed positive: Romelu has always worked apart, but still on the pitch, putting Roma in his sights and dreaming of savoring the grass of San Siro for a few minutes in the big match on Saturday. But yesterday the wind changed, the feelings turned negative and the absence against José Mourinho became sure. Thus the possible cross between the Belgian striker and the Portuguese coach, who had had a complicated relationship in the two brackets in which they worked together, always in England, jumps. Before at Chelsea, when Romelu was still a kid; then to Manchester United, where he had landed precisely at the express request of Mou.
the situation
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In fact, in Saturday’s match both will be out, as Mourinho is disqualified. Romelu, on the other hand, raised the white flag yesterday, when he should have done part of the work with the team: it would have been the long-awaited positive sign. But nothing: still differentiated, still loneliness, still disappointment. Because Romelu is dying to come back, to help the team in this delicate period. But there is only one diktat that cannot be escaped at this moment: it is forbidden to take risks. Lukaku does not have a common musculature: his 100 kg and the type of game made up of continuous stretches require a preventive braking, in order not to risk a relapse that would be devastating both for Inter and for the player himself a month and a half from the start. of the World Cup in Qatar. Logic has advised to postpone the return, but thus turns on another alarm: a player who cannot be called up on Saturday due to a long-term muscle trouble, how can he go on the bench seventy-two hours later and guarantee at least 15-20 minutes of possible help the team? That’s why even the call-up for Tuesday night’s Champions League match against Barcelona is at least in strong doubt. Certainly, in the first real crossroads in the European journey towards the second round, Inter will have to do without its attacking leader from the beginning, the rest will be understood in the coming days.
Big challenges taboo
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The Lukaku-bis seemed to have started under the light of another star, with lightning goals in Lecce after just three minutes of play from his new start in the Nerazzurri. An illusion, for Romelu and for the Nerazzurri people, who have returned to party after a sharp note from their king. Because that muscle fatigue accused in training at the end of August, which later became a distraction to the flexors, triggered the alarm, turning this month of September into a kind of via crucis for Lukaku, who has already missed more games than those lost in the first two years of Inter, in the two years of Conte. That time there were five matches missed, including the two Champions League away matches at the home of the big names in Spain: at the Camp Nou in Barcelona in the first year and at Real Madrid in the second. In both cases he ended up with a knockout, as happened in this season’s debut against Bayern. Giving a top player like Lukaku to the top-tier team of the group is never advisable and here it is becoming a very unfortunate (and unpleasant) habit: three times in three seasons, clear path for the Belgian.
Balance
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The match against Roma will be Inter’s seventh match without Lukaku this season and the balance sheet is not sent to a smile: two defeats and two victories in the league, one defeat and one victory in the Champions League. Without Romelu, Inter loses the offensive pole star: of course, the real Lukaku has not been seen in the first three games of the season, but the mere presence is useful to scare and keep the opposing defense busy. Having him or not for Barça can make all the difference in the world. Certainly there will be no risks: impossible to do so, with a World Cup just around the corner.
September 29 – 07:45
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