Lukaku joins Mirallas on the sidelines for Belgium

, 23 March, 9comments  |  Jump to most recent
Updated Romelu Lukaku has pulled out of Belgium's forthcoming Euro 2016 qualifiers against Cyprus and Israel because of the hamstring injury he picked up at Loftus Road yesterday.

The 21 year-old pulled up clutching the back of his upper leg midway through the second half of Everton's 2-1 QPR and had to be substituted a few minutes later.

Blues boss Roberto Martinez was hopeful that it was just a case of cramp and muscle fatigue but, having joined up with the Belgium national team, he has been diagnosed with a hamstring strain that is likely to sideline him for two to three weeks.

Lukaku will not feature in either qualifier for his country and will be re-assessed on his return to Finch Farm before the visit of Southampton on 4th April.

Kevin Mirallas is also ruled ouf of both games with the severe muscle bruising to his thigh that has kept him out of the last three games.  



Reader Comments (9)

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Tony J Williams
1 Posted 23/03/2015 at 17:25:09
Good
Brian Murray
2 Posted 23/03/2015 at 17:28:50
Why does he need to be with the national team when he’s injured? Surely getting treatment at Finch Farm would be better for everybody.
Paul Andrews
3 Posted 23/03/2015 at 20:51:40
Hopefully back to full fitness soon.

One of the best young centre forwards in Europe.

Anthony Lamb
4 Posted 23/03/2015 at 22:05:26
Pretty logical and appropriate question that, Brian, but sadly it would appear that logic just does not seem to find a place in this increasingly ludicrous world of professional football.

There will obviously be some clause or other that says he has to go etc. Perhaps the air journey will help his "muscle fatigue" get some rest and he will continue his professional progress by watching his international team mates train and play. Is it totally inappropriate to perhaps ask National Federations to consider their players’ employers when he is apparently unfit to play and encourage him to stay in home base and get himself fit?

Some "injuries" these seem to be when it appears that travelling around Europe seems to be part of the recuperative process. It would appear that it is not just Lukaku who is unfit, the whole game itself would appear to be in need of some treatment across a number of fronts.

Mike Childs
5 Posted 24/03/2015 at 11:11:56
Solidarity with the rest of the Belguim squad makes sense to me. Maybe they have better people than us for rehab?
Tony Draper
6 Posted 24/03/2015 at 11:10:58
Why did the Belgian medics diagnose this when Everton had released Rom?

Surely we don't release injured for international duty, do we? Well apparently we have, which raises a more worrying issue regarding our medical experts.

Perhaps this might shed some light upon our injury issues?

Matt Traynor
7 Posted 24/03/2015 at 12:11:29
Tony #6, I'm not sure but I think this was introduced a few years back. If players are withdrawn by clubs due to injury just before internationals they need to be assessed by the national team doctors.

I know the likes of Giggs et al barely played in non-competitive national fixtures, often picking up slight niggles beforehand, but it seems a bit much. Also, what if it's a really obvious injury (e.g. broken leg) that couldn't exactly be faked, would they still require they attend for assessment?

Patrick Murphy
8 Posted 24/03/2015 at 17:00:38
The Echo reports that Everton have been hit by the curse of the Hamstring Injury once again :-

The Blues have suffered a curious spate of the same injury this term, with Romelu Lukaku incredibly becoming the 13th first-team player to be put out of action. Since Roberto Martinez arrived 18 months ago the Toffees have endured an alarming 22 hamstring injuries to those 13 players; the most serious being the one which caused influential midfielder James McCarthy to miss a glut of important fixtures. Now top-scorer Lukaku has been sidelined for between two and three weeks, as Bryan Oviedo remains in the treatment room with a similar problem.

Let’s hope this results in some proper analysis of what happens in training and how the players are conditioned - of course it could be put down to bad-luck and nothing anybody could do about it.

Paul Andrews
9 Posted 25/03/2015 at 07:59:24
Pleasing to see nobody disagreed with my post above.

I believe the vast majority of Blues can see through the short term knee jerk reactions of those doubting Lukaku.

The lad will develop into a top class centre forward.


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