Romelu Lukaku scored twice in the second half to steer Inter Milan to a vital win at Borussia Moenchengladbach on Tuesday and keep their hopes of reaching the knockout stage alive with Group B still wide open with one round of games left.
The Belgium international has proved a lifesaver for Inter, having also scored twice, including a last-minute equaliser, in their 2-2 draw with the Germans in Italy on the first matchday.
Lukaku fired home for a 2-1 lead in the 64th minute at Borussia Park and tapped in his second goal nine minutes later to make it 3-1, with Inter now needing a win in their last group match against Shakhtar Donetsk to have any chance of advancing.
Gladbach are top on eight points from five games, one ahead of Shakhtar and Real Madrid after the Ukrainians earlier beat the visiting Spaniards 2-0. Inter have five points. All four teams will battle to reach the last 16 on the final matchday.
Lukaku was delighted with his double which keeps Inter’s Champions League hopes alive.
“As I said, I am one of the 25 players. There are far more experienced players here than me. I want to help the team to win, that’s what I do in every training session and every match, I want to help Inter,” Lukaku told Sky Sport Italia.
“I am so happy to be here with these lads, I’ve had the best year-and-a-half of my career at Inter, so I thank the coach, his staff and my teammates.
“We should’ve killed off the game, we were 3-1 up and were fortunate with VAR that the equaliser was disallowed. Having said that, we should not be negative, as there are many young players and we are improving.”
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