Romelu Lukaku: Inter Milan star's first touch v Monza was so bad it's gone viral | OneFootball

Romelu Lukaku had another early 2023 moment to forget on Saturday night with a dreadful first touch in the latter stages of Inter Milan’s Serie A clash with Monza.

The Belgian striker went viral earlier this week after a clip of the Napoli bench seemingly mocking his poor touch during a match on Wednesday emerged.

Lukaku had the last laugh on that occasion, though, as Inter wound up winning the contest 1-0, inflicting Napoli’s first league defeat of the season at the San Siro.

The cost of the 29-year-old’s poor control was far greater for Simone Inzaghi’s men at Monza’s U-Power Stadium, however.

Heading into stoppage-time at the end of the match, Inter led 2-1, thanks to first-half goals from Matteo Darmian and Lautaro Martinez.

When the visitors had a throw-in deep inside Monza territory in the second minute of five added on, their objective was simply to try and retain possession, killing as much time as possible in the process.

Lukaku – who had been introduced as a 55th-minute substitute in place of Edin Dzeko – couldn’t have got things more wrong when he received the throw-in – and disaster soon struck.

The Chelsea loanee is exactly the sort of player that you would want to receive the ball in such a scenario. Powerful, with an intimidating frame, Lukaku has all the attributes to be able to effectively shield the ball from the opposition.

However, his first touch as the ball was thrown straight to his feet was just awful. So heavy was his initial contact, that it left him struggling to keep the ball in play.

Ultimately, it was a battle Lukaku would lose, as his attempted return pass to a teammate sailed into touch.

At that exact moment, the host broadcaster cut to a shot of Dzeko laughing on the Inter bench. Now, we can’t say for sure that he was having a giggle at Lukaku’s expense, but the timing was unfortunate, to say the least.

You can check out the footage for yourself below:

Video: Romelu Lukaku’s dreadful first touch v Monza

Whatever it was that Dzeko found amusing, he wasn’t laughing moments later

From the throw-in that was a result of Lukaku’s error, Monza surged upfield.

Soon after, Patrick Ciurria’s cross from the right found Luca Caldirola, whose header took a significant deflection off Denzel Dumfries and flew past Andre Onana in the visitors’ goal.

The match ended 2-2, meaning that Inter remain in fourth place in Serie A.

Latest transfer news (Via The Football Terrace)