Lukaku opens up on Chelsea Champions League snub under Villas-Boas

Things did not pan out as plan for Romelu Lukaku at Chelsea and he opened up on a difficult relationship with Andre Villas-Boas.

Published : May 21, 2020 21:18 IST

Lukaku was at Chelsea when the team won the Champions League trophy.
Lukaku was at Chelsea when the team won the Champions League trophy.
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Lukaku was at Chelsea when the team won the Champions League trophy.

Romelu Lukaku says he will "never forgive" Andre Villas-Boas' snubs at Chelsea, including leaving him out of the Champions League squad that went on to win the trophy in 2012.

Villas-Boas was the man who signed Lukaku as a 19-year-old from Anderlecht in August 2011 but the Belgium striker did not make his Premier League start until May 2012.

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By that point Villas-Boas had been sacked by the Blues and replaced by club legend Roberto Di Matteo, who led Chelsea to a surprise Champions League triumph.

Lukaku, though, had not been registered to play in Europe's premier competition and, although he respected Di Matteo for bringing him along with the rest of the squad for the showdown against Bayern Munich, the now Inter Milan striker still bears a grudge with Villas-Boas.

"Di Matteo told me that I would stay with the group until after the final," Lukaku told Het Laatste Nieuws

"He thought everyone should come along, including the ones who were suspended and the few boys who were not in the Champions League squad. I am also grateful to him for that.

"This win is one of the things I've always dreamed about. You want to celebrate something like that with the team at that time. 

"That is nice in itself at the age of nineteen. I am happy for the whole club, but there is one man who took a lot from me - the previous trainer. I will never forgive him for that."

Lukaku went into more detail about his relationship with Villas-Boas, explaining: "Once I had to play in the front left, another time in the front right. You don't develop that way. 

"Then at some point you have to think about yourself. So I told the club what I thought of it. I know Villas-Boas was also under pressure. But that's why he didn't have to treat me like that. 

"Di Matteo approached me completely differently, he immediately involved me in everything. That should have been much earlier. Really, I never forgave the previous coach."

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While Lukaku was in Munich for Chelsea's Champions League success, he insists he did not even touch the trophy as he did not feel as though he had earned the right.

"I didn't touch it with a finger," he said. "Because I didn't win this trophy myself. This has been the case since I was eleven. If I have not contributed anything, it is not my trophy. Only if you have contributed to a cup or a title yourself, you can also show it off."

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