BANGKOK: Romelu Lukaku handed Jose Mourinho a winning start to his new reign as Chelsea manager yesterday with a perfectly timed debut goal after the club confirmed a bid for Wayne Rooney.
The towering Didier Drogba look-a-like drilled a first-half penalty to give new-look Chelsea a 1-0 win over the Singha All-Star XI, who humbled Manchester United by the same scoreline last week.
Lukaku, who starred on loan with West Bromwich Albion last season, has vowed to fight for his place even if Chelsea sign a striker of the calibre of Manchester United’s unsettled forward Rooney.
And his goal, on a night of promising debut performances by Chelsea’s new signings in Bangkok, comes after the club ended widespread speculation by confirming a bid for the England forward.
Chelsea played with their shirt names and numbers in Thai but home goalkeeper Narit Taweekul nearly went further with the generosity when he palmed a loose ball against the crossbar.
Kevin De Bruyne was a chief threat on his debut, after returning from a loan spell at Werder Bremen, and he whistled a thunderous shot past the uprights on 23 minutes.
Lukaku was also posing problems early on and he forced a sharp save from Narit after galloping through one-on-one on the half-hour.
But the first goal of Mourinho’s new era came from the spot after right-back Wallace, the new signing from Fluminense, went down under a challenge in the box.
And Lukaku made no mistake with his left foot as he drove the penalty low and to the ‘keeper’s right for his first goal in a Chelsea shirt, with 35 minutes gone.
The Belgian might have had another but Narit was again equal to his first-time shot in the box.
Meanwhile, Arsenal pummeled the Vietnamese national team into submission with a 7-1 romp yesterday.AFP
