Lukaku silences Feyenoord and... Chelsea fans to score 16th goal of the season

By Alessandro Schiavone at 'De Kuip' in Rotterdam

Europa League playoffs

Feyenoord 1-1 AS Roma

Goals: Paixão (F), Lukaku (R)

Who else if not Romelu Lukaku to rescue AS Roma a precious draw against bitter rivals Feyenoord in De Kuip’s hostile environment?

And sometimes you need a bit of luck too for that to happen. Because despite coming off his shoulder, the Belgian juggernaut’s flicked header still found its way in to erase Igor Paixao’s first-half headed opener.

Given their recent history, with the Giallorossi both seeing off the Dutch giants in the Conference League final in 2022 and in the quarter-finals of the Europa League last term, there was clearly no love lost between the two teams. Roma fans were banned, meaning the players had to look for answers from within to find the resilience to come back from the death and snatch an unlikely draw from the jaws of defeat.

In an evenly contest first period at the infernal footballing cathedral, the Italians played to the tune of 50 Cent’s famous Disco Inferno hit from 2005 with their wastefulness in front of goal resembling a broken record.

Chance after chance went bagging. Paredes hit the crossbar from afar while Lukaku himself sent two powerful yet placement-lacking headers into Timo Wellenreuther’s hands. Yet like so often, he turned what would have been front-page criticism today into applauds when he silenced the Feyenoord supporters to take a decent result into next week’s return leg in the Italian capital. Though Feyenoord may feel aggrieved at the result as Mile Svilar decisively blocked Santiago Jimenez’s thumping effort before the post denied Antoni Milambo’s audacious direct free-kick.

And after the game, new Roma head coach Daniele De Rossi hailed his Belgian striker as “the best striker in the world”, adding that he would also have played in his legendary side alongside Francesco Totti from 2007. If that doesn't explain the respect he has in Italy, nothing does.

A subject of much debate at Stamford Bridge and Cobham, the former Man United star is proving that yes, what glitters is still gold.

Line-ups

Feyenoord

22 Wellenreuther- 2 Nieuwkoop- 3 Beelen- 5 Hartman- 6 Zerrouki- 9 Ueda- 10 Stengs-14 Paixao- 19 Minteh- 20 Wieffer- 33 Hancko

AS Roma

99 Svilar- 2 Karsdorp- 7 Pellegrini- 14 Llorente- 16 Paredes- 21 Dybala- 23 Mancini- 37 Spinazzola- 52 Bove- 59 Zalewski- 90 Lukaku