Lukaku has more open goals MISSED than goals scored

Carlo Garganese

• 1 Apr 2023 09:45 CDT
• 3 min read

Romelu Lukaku now has more missed open goals this season than he has goals in open play.

The Belgian is having a truly disastrous campaign on loan at Inter and his campaign reached a new low on Friday.

With Inter leading 1-0 in a must-win game at Salernitana, Lukaku missed a string of chances to kill the match.

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This included an open goal from just a couple of yards out which he somehow managed to head onto the crossbar.

The miss proved costly as Antonio Candreva equalised in the 90th minute to earn Salernitana a draw and put Inter at very real risk of failing to qualify for the Champions League.

It was the second game in a row that Lukaku had missed an open goal in Serie A.

Last week, he screwed wide of an empty net during the 1-0 home defeat to Fiorentina.

Alessandro Bastoni squared across the six yard box for what appeared to be a simple tap-in to an empty net for Lukaku, but the Belgian got his finish all wrong.

Lukaku was made to pay as just four minutes later Fiorentina won the game thanks to Giacomo Bonaventura.

Lukaku open goal misses

Lukaku now has more open goal misses for Inter in the last two Serie A games than he has goals from open play.

The 29-year-old has scored only one goal from open play all season for Inter in Serie A. He has only three goals in total - the other two coming from the penalty spot. In all competitions, Lukaku has six goals - two more in the Champions League and another penalty in the Coppa Italia.

Inter Milan are looking increasingly likely to send Lukaku back to Chelsea at the end of the season.

Lukaku returned to Inter on a one-season loan this past summer from Chelsea, but has struggled horribly with his fitness and form.

He also flopped at the World Cup, missing a host of big chances in the 0-0 draw with Croatia which eliminated Belgium from the group stages. These misses included yet another open goal miss.