Ex-Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku has admitted he will never forgive former Chelsea boss Andres Villas-Boas for leaving him out of Chelsea’s 2012 Champions League squad.
Lukaku joined Chelsea in the summer of 2011 for a fee of £17million but rarely featured under Villas-Boas, instead spending the majority of the season in the reserves.
Lukaku only made his first appearance of the season in May – well after Villas-Boas had been sacked. Roberto Di Matteo, Villas-Boas’ replacement, led Chelsea to Champions League victory but while Lukaku celebrated with his teammates, he refused to touch the trophy.
“(Roberto) Di Matteo told me that I would stay with the group until after the final,” Lukaku told Het Laatste Nieuws, as reported by AD.
“He thought everyone should come along, including the ones who were suspended and the few boys who were not in the Champions League squad. I am also grateful to him for that.”
He added: “This win is one of the things I’ve always dreamed about. You want to celebrate something like that with the team at that time.
“That is nice in itself at the age of nineteen. I am happy for the whole club, but there is one man who took a lot from me: the previous trainer (Villas-Boas). I will never forgive him for that. “I didn’t touch it with a finger because I didn’t win this trophy myself.
“This has been the case since I was eleven: if I have not contributed anything, it is not my trophy. “Only if you have contributed to a cup or a title yourself, you can also show it off.”