Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku scored twice on Friday to match the great Diego Maradona.
The Manchester United striker scored a brace as Belgium thumped Tunisia 5-2 in their Group G encounter to qualify for the knockouts. Lukaku, who also scored two goals in the Belgium’s opening match against Panama, became the first player to score two goals in consecutive World Cup matches since Maradona did it in 1986.
The first Lukaku goal came in the 16th minute. The 25-year-old latched onto a pass from Dries Mertens to slot it past the Tunisian goalkeeper to double Belgium’s lead after Eden Hazard opened the scoring.
He struck again in the stoppage time of first half after he beat the Tunisian defence and then chipped the Thomas Meunier pass over the goalie.
In the 1986 World Cup, Maradona scored two goals including the “Hand of God goal” as Argentina defeated England 2-1 in the quarter-finals. In the semis, the maestro scored another two goals as they defeated Belgium 2-0.
Lukaku now has four goals in the ongoing World Cup and is now tied with Cristiano Ronaldo as the highest goal scorer, so far. It’s also the most any Belgian player has managed in a single tournament.
The former Chelsea striker has now scored seven goals for his country in World Cups and European Championships, more than any other player in their history. He scored a solitary goal in 2014 World Cup and two more in the 2016 Euros.
The record was earlier held by Jan Ceulemans, who scored six goals in World Cups and European Championships for Belgium.
Hazad and Lukaku, who both scored two goals each, became the first pair to do so since Toni Kroos and Andre Schurrle did the same for Germany against Brazil in 2014.