Former Blue Joe Cole has made a bold prediction on Romelu Lukaku’s goal tally in the Champions League this season.
Lukaku has already scored four goals in four appearances since returning to the West London side in the summer for a club record transfer fee.
He arrived for a second stint at Chelsea from Inter Milan, with whom he won the Serie A title under the management of former Blues boss Antonio Conte.
Speaking to BT Sport after Chelsea’s win against Zenit on Tuesday evening, Cole made his thoughts known on how well he thinks the Belgian will fare this season.
He said: “I think he will be top scorer this year in the Champions League, I’ll throw that out there now.”
Lukaku scored four goals in five games in the competition last season, with Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland being the top scorer of the tournament with ten.
Inter Milan failed to make it out of their group last campaign, so Chelsea’s new talisman will no doubt want to prove himself in the latter stages of the competition.
The Blues began the defence of their Champions League crown with a win on Tuesday night against Zenit. The Russian Premier League leaders defended bravely for most of the game, but Lukaku was finally able to break the deadlock and secure a 1-0 win for Chelsea.
His second half header was his fourth goal of the season. Lukaku’s first of the campaign came on his second debut for the club away at Arsenal after just 15 minutes, with the remaining two being scored on his return to Stamford Bridge against Aston Villa.
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