Romelu Lukaku has moved to clarify his astonishing accusation that some of his Manchester United team-mates were ‘hiding’ during their 2-1 Champions League defeat to Sevilla.
The Belgian striker, who scored what proved to be a late consolation goal at Old Trafford, caused a stir by saying ‘something were flawed with some players, some players were hiding’ in a post-match interview with BT Sport.
However, Lukaku insists he meant that some of his team-mates were hiding their faces in the dressing room afterwards, rather than in their performance on the pitch.
Manchester United striker Romelu Lukaku clarified his comments about team-mates ‘hiding’ in an Instagram post following their shock Champions League exit to Sevilla
Lukaku suggested some of Manchester United’s players went ‘hiding’ in a post-match interview on BT Sport but claims he wasn’t referring to their on-field performance
In an Instagram post, Lukaku wrote: ‘Never will I criticise my teammates! Hiding your face when you’re upset in the dressing room is normal…
‘The result is terrible but we’re @manchesterunited we will bounce back for sure with your support!
‘Another big game coming up time to prepare for that one! 200 Goals now in my young career but it’s time to add trophies in my career… time to work even harder.’
Lukaku’s 84th minute goal was too little, too late after Wissam Ben Yedder had come off the bench to score twice and earn Sevilla a stunning victory.
The Spanish club, who held United goalless in the first leg, progress to the quarter-finals of the leading European competition for the first time since 1958.
Lukaku scored a consolation for United during the later stages of the Champions League tie
But a double from Wissam Ben Yedder meant the Old Trafford side exited the competition
Clearly smarting from the loss, Lukaku told BT Sport: ‘Some things were flawed with some players, some players were hiding. The deception was really big, because you know I think we started the game well, and then we started to let them have control in the game.
‘Then we had a few half chances but we didn’t really score, and then they scored the first goal.
‘From that moment on we tried to chase the game and they scored the second one which was a big blow. At the end we kept pushing but it was not enough.
‘We should have done better because the bit of quality we have in the team, we should have went through. We didn’t deserve it because we weren’t good enough.’
And the Belgian striker insisted his side had not deserved to advance to the last-eight
Lukaku did try and clarify his ‘hiding’ comment later in the same interview but clearly felt the need to take to social media after facing criticism.
He said on BT Sport: ‘Not hiding, but I mean in the dressing room, because some people were disappointed with the result because we expected better from ourselves.
‘We know we have a lot of quality in the team but today we didn’t show it. So, it was difficult for us. We have to bounce back, we have one trophy to chase, and that’s the FA Cup.
‘But we wanted to go very far in the Champions League because that’s what a club like Manchester United need to do, and we didn’t do it today so we’re very disappointed.’
United, who trail rivals Manchester City by 16 points in the Premier League, have one more shot at silverware this season and host Brighton in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup on Saturday evening.