Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku sent a message of support to his stricken Inter Milan team-mate Christian Eriksen after scoring, as his doubl...
Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku sent a message of support to his stricken Inter Milan team-mate Christian Eriksen after scoring, as his double helped the Red Devils open their Euro 2020 campaign with a 3-0 win over Russia on Saturday.
Lukaku gave Belgium an early lead in Saint Petersburg, then shouted “Chris, Chris, stay strong – I love you” into a pitchside camera during the celebration for his opening goal.
Eriksen is recovering in hospital in Copenhagen after collapsing on the pitch during extraordinary scenes which overshadowed Denmark’s 1-0 home defeat by Finland in Saturday’s earlier Group B game.
“I am really happy with the win, but it was hard for me to play because my thoughts were with Christian Erkisen,” said Lukaku, who revealed he cried tears of concern before kick-off for his Inter team-mate.
Belgium coach Roberto Martinez admitted other members of his squad were also affected after seeing Eriksen suddenly slump to the turf during the Denmark-Finland game.
“We were watching the game live and five minutes afer Christian collapsed, we went into a team meeting. As you can imagine, the last thing we wanted to do was talk about football,” said Martinez.
“There were a lot of tears from players who have shared dressing rooms and big moments with...
