Romelu Lukaku does not want to be compared to Cristiano Ronaldo despite drawing closer to overtaking the Portuguese forward in terms of international goals.
The 28-year-old Belgian striker who returned to Chelsea in August 2021 stressed that Ronaldo is in the top three best footballers of all time.
Romelu Lukaku also stressed that statistics do not matter as far as a player like Cristiano Ronaldo is concerned and counted himself lucky to have played against him in Italy and now in the Premier League.
Romelu Lukaku is currently Belgium’s all-time highest goalscorer in international football. He has held the position since he was 24-year-old and does not look like dropping it for anyone.
He scored his 67th international goal on Sunday, September 5, 2021, when he led Belgium to face the Czech Republic in a World Cup qualification match. The match ended 3-0 in favor of Belgium.
The match was Lukaku’s 100th appearance for the Belgian national team in which he gave a glorious account of himself as usual. He scored in the 8th minute to extend his goalscoring record a bit further.
100 caps for @BelRedDevils
— R.Lukaku Bolingoli9 (@RomeluLukaku9) September 6, 2021
3 points 🤲🏿
⚽️
Perfect night pic.twitter.com/J7kgmdYVm9
As it stands, Romelu Lukaku is among the 6 players that have played for the national team 100 times. He is racing to overtake 34-year-old Belgian defender, Jan Vertonghen, who has played for the country record 132 times. He is also behind Eden Hazard who has recorded 113 appearances for Belgium so far.
On the Belgian record goalscorers chart, the closest player to Lukaku is Eden Hazard. The 30-year-old Real Madrid forward has scored 33 goals so far in his international career.
As it stands, Romelu Lukaku has 44 goals to score before he can equal Cristiano Ronaldo’s record 111 international goals. The Belgian striker is 28-year-old while Ronaldo is 36-year-old which means that the difference between their ages is 8 years.
Statistically, Lukaku has a huge chance to score 44 goals in 8 years to equal Ronaldo’s all-time highest goalscorer record in international football. Despite such a possibility, the Belgian international does not want to be compared to the 5-times Ballon d’Or winner.
Ahead of the World Cup qualifier between Belgium and the Czech Republic which ended 3-0 in favor of Belgium on Sunday, Lukaku said: “Don’t ever compare me to Cristiano Ronaldo, never.”
“Cristiano Ronaldo is, for me, in the top three best players in the history of football,” he continued. “I’m not going to rank him from first to third but he’s in there.
“What he has achieved in football today for players of my generation is something exceptional.
“I was lucky enough to play against him in Italy and now that he’s back in the Premier League, it’s all good for English football.
“As for the rest, comparing statistics and all that, it’s useless.”
Just like Lukaku that left Inter Milan to return to Chelsea in August, Cristiano Ronaldo left Juventus to return to Manchester United in August.
Romelu Lukaku played for Chelsea between 2011 and 2014 before he joined Everton, Manchester United, and then Inter Milan in 2019. While Ronaldo played for Manchester United between 2003 and 2009 before he joined Real Madrid, and then Juventus in 2018.
They are expected to face each other for the first time in the Premier League on November 27, 2021, at 16:00.
