Romelu Lukaku is usually a pretty chill guy who usually avoids confrontation on the pitch and lets his feet do talking.
This changed on Tuesday night in Inter Milan’s Coppa Italia encounter with AC Milan.
Lukaku locked horns with former Man United teammate Zlatan Ibrahimovic in a feisty clash that has dominated talk on both social media and traditional media in the hours since.
The pair butted heads and hurled insults at each other, earning bookings, while teammates kept them apart at halt-time.
War of words
Zlatan: “I'll give you €500 for every time you get your first touch right tonight” “Go do your voodoo s***, you little donkey!”.
Lukaku: I will f**k u and your wife b**ch “He wants to talk about mothers? Son of a b****.” #InterMilan#derbydellamadonnina pic.twitter.com/qWm0WygVBV
— Cosmos ChukwuEmeka (@Mrcosmos13) January 26, 2021
The Belgian is quoted as having said “f*** you and your wife” in the Swede’s direction with Ibrahimovic seemingly referring to Lukaku as a “little donkey”.
Zlatan said to Lukaku: “I'll give you €500 for every time you get your first touch right tonight” 😂🤣 pic.twitter.com/TpEMMrurBZ
— Footy Humour (@FootyHumour) January 26, 2021
Ibrahimovic was eventually sent off after tensions had calmed in the second half with Inter awarded a penalty in the 70th minute giving them a chance to level.
Clearly, Lukaku hadn’t got over the incident, packing quite a punch into the spot-kick which came of the underside of the bar and went in.
Observers were quick to point out the ferocity of the run-up and the strike and wondered whether his confrontation with the Swede had influenced it.
Christian Eriksen grabbed a very late winner for Inter but even that strike couldn’t take the spotlight off Lukaku’s penalty.
Take a look at the strike and the reactions below:
The Anger in Lukaku penalty 😂🙈
Ibrahimovic Red Card Lool.. #InterMilanpic.twitter.com/GjdKCYCkMk— The Smiling Nerd 🗯️ (@jenzbenzy) January 26, 2021
The anger In LUKAKU’s penalty could blind the keeper. 😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/FROiUY3myZ
— Gbenga (@GbengaOlaa) January 26, 2021
The force in that lukaku penalty tho 😂😂😂>>>
— D BlackSmitteR (@Bolu_tiwii) January 27, 2021
Lukaku took the penalty like he den the pole get beef ei😂😂
— Bla Yaw✝🇬🇭 (@obrempong__) January 26, 2021
Lukaku struck that penalty by imagining Ibra’s head as the ball 🤣
— K.C.⚜️ (@KCTellem_) January 26, 2021
this nigga Lukaku summoned di strength of di black pantha for this penalty pic.twitter.com/APAsTFdPI0
— vibeyson 🦦 (@unclevibes_) January 26, 2021
The goalkeeper facing Lukaku’s penalty https://t.co/q4kMQWhSGS pic.twitter.com/o784k3whWy
— SPORTbible (@sportbible) January 26, 2021
The anger in that Lukaku penalty 😭😂 pic.twitter.com/XMKWJ7kYkj
— N (@Nino12x) January 26, 2021
