Aged Just 24, Romelu Lukaku Equals Belgium All-Time Goalscoring Record With Poacher’s Double Against Mexico (Photo & Videos)

Chris Wright

11th, November 2017

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At the tender age of just 24, Romelu Lukaku scored the necessary two goals in last night’s 3-3 draw against Mexico to become one of Belgium’s three joint-highest goalscorers.

Lukaku prodded in his 29th and 30th goals for the Red Devils (in just 64 appearances) to equal the international tallies of both Bernard Voorhoof and Paul van Himst, both of whom formerly co-owned the record.

Eden Hazard opened the scoring in the 17th minute only to see his efforts neutralised shortly before half-time by an Andres Guardado penalty.

Lukaku then clicked into gear after the restart, scoring his first goal of the evening in the 55th minute when he managed to guide Dries Mertens’ cross into the back of the net using the thigh of his standing leg…

Hirving ‘Chucky’ Lozano then took just four minutes to score a brace of his own to nudge El Tri back in front at 3-2 with half an hour or so left to play.

Thing then went quiet for all of 10 minutes before Lukaku popped up again to steer another impish Mertens’ cut-back in from close range and haul Belgium back level…

And that’s precisely how it finish: honours even at three goals apiece, with Lukaku left to celebrate reaching his own personal milestone.

Voorhoof reached 30 goals between 1928 and 1940, while Van Himst managed to do the same between 1960 and 1974.

Since then, several have come close (in the recent-ish past, Marc Wilmots bowed out with 29 goals while Wesley Sonck got to 24) but none reached the magic 3-0.

Lukaku now has the chance to move clear at the top of the chart when Belgium play Japan in Brussels on Tuesday.

And, again, he’s only 24-years-old.

Phenomenal.

Posted in International football

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2 Comments

  1. Jarren says:

    To be fair, I don’t think Belgium have ever had such a rich vein of talent overall.

    The Dutch are on the slide downwards, while their neighbours seem to be heading in the opposite direction.

  2. A Nonny Moose says:

    “Back in front” would imply that they had been in front previously…

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