Romelu Lukaku has backed Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe to ‘dominate football for the next 10 years’ and take up the mantle from Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Inter Milan’s Lukaku is preparing to take on Haaland’s Manchester City in the Champions League final on Saturday night and is well aware of the challenge his side face in trying to contain the Norwegian. The 22-year-old has been close to unstoppable in his first season with City, scoring 52 goals in 52 games across all competitions, having already wrapped up the Premier League title and FA Cup. Mbappe, still only 24, has had another prolific campaign with PSG, scoring 41 goals in 43 games to take his tally with the club to an immense 212 goals in 260 games. The pair of forwards are already at the top of the world game and Lukaku thinks they will remain there for another decade.
Lukaku is looking forward to taking on Pep Guardiola’s side on Saturday night in Istanbul, relishing the challenge, which he says is as difficult as any in the sport. He said: ‘It’s a beautiful thing, playing probably against the best team in the world. I just want to enjoy it, not having pressure, just enjoy the moment, enjoy the build-up, go there to have the best result possible. Man City is a well-drilled team…Guardiola is such a good coach because every game is a different game plan. It’s not the same. They have different patterns every game… And you know (Haaland) with these movements and the way how they open defences up at the end, he will get those chances because those movements and the patterns that they do, they synchronize very well.’
Romelu Lukaku believes Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe will dominate football for the next 10 years and take up the mantle from Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Inter Milan’s Lukaku is preparing to take on Haaland’s Manchester City in the Champions League final on Saturday night and is aware of the challenge his side face in trying to contain the Norwegian. The 22-year-old has been close to unstoppable in his first season with City, scoring 52 goals in 52 games across all competitions, while Mbappe has had another prolific campaign with PSG, scoring 41 goals in 43 games to take his tally with the club to an immense 212 goals in 260 games. Lukaku is looking forward to taking on Pep Guardiola’s side on Saturday night in Istanbul, relishing the challenge which he says is as difficult as any in the sport. He believes Haaland and Mbappe will be fighting from the new generation to take over from Messi and Ronaldo in the next two years. For more stories like this, check our sport page. Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.