Belgians Want Me To Fail - Lukaku

Belgium striker, Romelu Lukaku will “remember to have fun” at the World Cup, despite claiming “some people in my own country want to see me fail”.

The 25-year-old Manchester United forward is expected to start against Panama in Sochi on Monday (16:00 BST).

But he feels many Belgium supporters do not appreciate him and are unaware of his poverty-hit childhood.

“If you weren’t with me when I had nothing, then you can’t really understand me,” he said.

“When I went to Chelsea and I wasn’t playing, I heard them laughing at me. When I got loaned out to West Brom, I heard them laughing at me.

“But it’s cool. Those people weren’t with me when we were pouring water in our cereal.”

Lukaku has written about his childhood and struggles to support his family by becoming a professional footballer, for the Players’ Tribune.

He recalls making his debut for his hometown club, Anderlecht, after a prolific spell in schoolboy football which was marred by moments of prejudice.

“When I was 11 years old, I was playing for the Lierse youth team, and one of the parents from the other team literally tried to stop me from going onto the pitch,” he said. “He was like, ‘How old is this kid? Where is his ID? Where is he from?’

And he remembers how, after becoming a star name, newspapers “were calling me Romelu Lukaku, the Belgian striker” but when his form dipped “they were calling me Romelu Lukaku, the Belgian striker of Congolese descent”.