Romelu Lukaku eyes Chelsea Champions League spot

Posted Friday, September 23, 2011 by The Sun

ROMELU LUKAKU has vowed to see in 2012 by being a Champions League hit.

Chelsea's new striker reckons he can force his way into the 25-man squad for the knockout stages of the tournament once he is fully up to speed with English football.

Lukaku, 18, is determined to ignore the cramps after being rewarded with his first start for the club on Wednesday — in a two-hour Carling Cup tie against Fulham which stretched to extra time then penalties.

The big Belgian said: "It is up to me to play well and then hopefully get in the next squad when it is named in January.

"It is my main objective and it is realistic because in these four months I can show what I can do and improve.

"The manager explained to me why he left me out of the squad. I'm patient but when I have the chance to play, I will do my best to show myself to the boss.

"Every youngster wants to be playing in Europe, but if you see our squad you already understand.

"I think I played very well against Fulham and was helpful to the team. I'm very pleased but I have to continue like that and continue to train like I'm doing to progress every week.

"It was difficult for me at the end against Fulham and I had some cramp, but overall I'm very happy we won.

"The experienced players were always helping me — John Terry, Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard were speaking to me almost all the time.

"They kept encouraging me, telling me to keep on going and telling me what to do when I had the ball.

"It makes it easier to play with guys that always talk to you. They give you some kind of look, then I know what I have to do. At the end, I had a little bit of cramp but you have to suffer if you want to win something and go through pain."

Blues boss Andre Villas-Boas' Champions League list is redrawn ahead of the knockout stages after Christmas.

Lukaku, who cost £20million when signing a five-year contract in the summer from Anderlecht has been touted as the eventual successor to Blues strike legend Drogba.

He believes Chelsea have a clutch of youngsters who will grab the opportunity of replacing more established stars to play in the Carling Cup even though stalwarts like Lampard and Terry were needed to finally see off Fulham.

Lukaku added: "The Chelsea fans should be excited about us because in training you can see that Josh McEachran, Ryan Bertrand and Oriol Romeu are such big talents.

"The coach helps us a lot, he is always talking to us, as are coaches Roberto di Matteo and Steve Holland.

"It is good for us to be with people of this level. The whole club is happy that we're through to the next round.

"We want to win every cup there is. The youngsters are also happy because it gives us an opportunity to show ourselves to the boss and that he can count on us.

"It's a big opportunity for the whole team. After the season we had last year, we want to show that we are a team that can win everything. We have a squad to do that.

"I have to continue like that to show the boss that he can count on me."