Romelu Lukaku returns early to Chelsea due to muscle ‘overload’

Romelu Lukaku will miss Belgium’s UEFA Nations League third-place match against Italy on Sunday — a game that Thibaut Courtois has rightly called absolutely pointless — after leaving the national team and returning early to Chelsea.

As confirmed by Belgium head coach Roberto Martínez, the Chelsea striker has a bit of muscle fatigue, so it only makes sense to not have play in this game. And thankfully both Belgium and Chelsea are on the same page in this case.

Lukaku scored a stunning goal in Belgium’s UEFA Nations League semifinal against France but couldn’t stop Belgium from blowing a two-goal lead and succumb to a 2-3 defeat to the defending world champions.

“It’s an overload. He didn’t feel 100 per cent to play tomorrow. It’s soreness in his tissue. Every decision taken involves both medical departments together for the good of the player.”

-Roberto Martinez; Source: Sky Sports

Martinez also added that ex-Chelsea player Eden Hazard has also left the national team for the same reason, which is not really surprising since Eden has faced persistent injury issues throughout his Real Madrid career. Hopefully Lukaku can avoid such concerns, especially with proper workload management.

Better safe than sorry!