Jose Mourinho admits he’s delighted for Man United star after Newcastle thrashing
Jose Mourinho was delighted to see Romelu Lukaku find the net for Manchester United against Newcastle
Jose Mourinho has admitted that he was delighted for Romelu Lukaku to find the net for Manchester United in the 4-1 victory over Newcastle United at Old Trafford on Saturday night.
The summer signing had been coming in for some criticism following his failure to score for the Red Devils in recent weeks after having initially made a strong start to life in Mourinho’s team.
Lukaku had gone seven games without scoring for Manchester United ahead of Saturday’s game, before he scored the Red Devils’ fourth goal against the Magpies at Old Trafford.
His strike added to goals from Anthony Martial, Chris Smalling and Paul Pobga as Manchester United kept to within eight points of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table.
And although Mourinho insists that he has been delighted by Lukaku’s performance in recent weeks even if he wasn’t scoring, he was pleased to see the Belgian end his rut on Saturday.
Speaking at his post-match news conference, Mourinho said: “He is a striker and strikers like to score goals.
“It is not a problem for me if he works like he does and he doesn’t score goals but, for the self-confidence, strikers love to score goals.
“He was not doing that for us for a few matches and I know that can affect strikers’ confidence, so I was really happy that he scored that goal.”
Manchester United return to Premier League action next weekend when they take on Brighton on Saturday.
The Red Devils take on Basel in Switzerland in the Champions League on Wednesday night as they look to book their place in the last 16 of Europe’s elite club competition.
