Lukaku love affair in Rome still complicated after Europa League loss to Slavia Prague
A European Cup win has seen Jose Mourinho - now in his third season in the Italian capital - become an adored figure, and that redemptive arc is now what he craves for Romelu Lukaku.
“He needs to be loved” is what the Portuguese head coach said after they signed the out-of-favour striker, but on a night where the passionate Slavia crowd roared their side to a deserved 2-0 victory at Fortuna Arena in the Europa League group stages, his inconsistency in front of goal was in the spotlight once more.
Jose Mourinho, who was serving the final game of his four-match touchline ban, reacted to Lazio boss Maurizio Sarri’s comments of calling Thursday’s affair a ‘friendly’ before the Rome Derby on Sunday by naming a strong XI to play Slavia.
No rest then for Lukaku, who started through the middle. After a couple of tussles with defender Igoh Ogbu where he was second best, Andrea Belotti took his place in the front three with the Belgian shipped out to the right of a 4-3-3.
Throughout his career, Lukaku has played as that focal point, the target man where the ball gets fed into him to either score or tee up teammates. With Belotti, the partnership, still in its infancy, felt stagnant in the first half and it was the hosts who controlled most of the play, leaving both strikers feeding off scraps.
In contrast, Mojmir Chytil, who after a superb season with Sigma Olomouc, earned a move to Slavia as well as a call-up to the Czech national team, was in the thick of things.
In physicality, Lukaku and Chytil are polar opposites. The Czech striker is spritely, diminutive and agile. He had the best chance of the half when, in the 27th minute, a ball from Christos Zafeiris found him with work to do in the box. A touch with the inside of his boot saw him turn away from his marker, but now off balance, his right-footed effort from close range went just over the bar.
For Lukaku, it was a tough first 45. He touched the ball a handful of times and was let down by the service - long balls from Roma’s busy defence and other ponderous passing were more likely to find a player in red and white rather than their number 90.
The number itself suggests a player still seeking a place in this team. Signed from Chelsea on loan to replace another Chelsea alumni - the injured Tammy Abraham - he struggled to find somewhere that wanted him in the summer. Despite making a Champions League final with Inter last season, they did not seem to want him back. That could be down to two vital and inadvertently calamitous misses late on in Istanbul, and that could be why Juventus also went cold on a move.
A spell back in the blue of Chelsea seemed an impossibility, so joining Roma and joining up with Mourinho for a second time came to be. Before tonight’s game, he has been impressive in his new home. Three in three games to start the Europa League campaign, coupled with six in nine Serie A games, suggests he is finding some form in the eternal city.
But, five minutes into the second half, it wasn’t Lukaku celebrating - instead the loud home support erupted after Vaclav Jurecka tapped in from two metres after good work from Chytil. With the assist, the striker showed that agility to react first and find his teammate who had the simplest of tasks.
Those notions of a friendly from pre-game had been etched away by pure atmosphere and a sometimes literally bouncing home very quick into this game, and now Roma would have to show some steel to get back into this.
Lukaku is a player known for that drive and determination. The confidence to carve his own path. But his job on the night was nearly made harder, when opposite number Chytil forced a great save from Roma’s cup keeper Mile Svilar just after the hour mark. The Serbian stopper got the barest of touches to keep Slavia from doubling their lead and it was a moment that sparked a change from the visitors, Paulo Dybala on for Belotti.
Neither could do much about Slavia’s second. Oscar Dorley found Lukas Masopust with the whole of Prague in front of him and with no one charging him down, the midfielder had time to pick his spot and drive a shot into the bottom corner past Svilar. A touch of class that Roma lacked throughout the contest.
Although Lukaku and Dybala combined with more efficiency than he had with Belotti, the improvement from this experienced trio still feels like it needs more work.
There were no heroics to repeat their win at Lecce at the weekend in which the striker missed a penalty but scored the winner in added time, and that shows that this iteration of Roma - like their strikeforce - needs more time to solve their issues of fluency and dynamism.
A 2-0 defeat in a group where both sides are likely already qualified for the knockout stages will not be the end of the world for either Lukaku or Roma - but it leaves it where it began, complicated.