Romelu Lukaku has posted a cryptic message where he appears to deny a report that had claimed he had a row with team-mate Paul Pogba over the Frenchman’s penalty miss against Southampton. A report claimed that the pair had to be separated by manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer after the game, with Lukaku apparently unhappy that Pogba had denied him the chance of scoring a hat-trick.
United had fallen behind in Saturday’s Premier League clash, with Yan Valery’s stunning strike having given Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side a shock lead at Old Trafford after 26 minutes. Andres Pereira levelled shortly after half-time, however, before two goals from Belgium international Lukaku, either side of an equaliser from James Ward-Prowse, put the hosts in front. Then came the penalty incident that saw Pogba, the club’s designated taker, have his effort saved by goalkeeper Angus Gunn to stop United moving further in front in the game.
And the Sun claims that Lukaku was apparently unhappy not to have been allowed to take the spot-kick to complete his hat-trick and that he let Pogba know how he felt at full-time. Seemingly denying the story, Lukaku posted on Twitter: “When the hate doesn’t work they start telling lies…” The Frenchman’s penalty record in 2018-19 had been positive before Sunday’s miss, with Pogba having scored six of his eight previous penalties this season.
Indeed, he had scored from his last three attempts, against Brighton, Burnley and Fulham, although his miss against Southampton means his record now stands at six scored from nine.
More to follow…