Lukaku returns to the Belgium squad for games against Italy and Israel in the Nations League

Little by little, coach Domenico Tedescu is coming to terms with his main stars in the Belgium national team. This Friday, the coach announced the call-up of praised striker Romelu Lukaku for games against Italy and Israel in the Nations League. Courtois, who left the national squad after losing his captain’s belt, and De Bruyne could also be called up, but they are injured.

Belgium’s stars were not being called up for various reasons, such as disagreements with the coach or physical condition, in the case of Lukaku. Outside the opening four rounds of the Nations League, the striker returned to form performing in style at Napoli and will try to help in their unlikely qualification to the quarter-finals.

Tedescu assured that he did not need to convince the Napoli center forward to return to the national team and praised his number 9 at the press conference after announcing the squad for the end of the group stage.

“I never needed to convince Romelu to return to play for the national team. Lukaku is obviously very important. He is one of the best strikers in the world, the statistics prove that,” he said. “He’s very important off the field too. He shows younger players the right way.”

The Belgian commander also assured that he gets along well with the player. “I just know that I have a good and close relationship with Romelu. I think what this tells me is important. It’s the best way to build a relationship”, he stated, ruling out problems of coexistence.

With just 4 points, compared to 10 from Italy and 9 from France, the Netherlands need to win their two games and still hope that the French overcome the Italians to advance in the tiebreaker criteria. Another option would be for France to lose both games, combined with 100% Belgian success.