From being broke to becoming Belgium's star footballer, here’s Romelu Lukak’s inspiring story!

Lukaku has scored four goals from two games so far, certainly making him a strong contender for ‘Golden Boot’

Lukaku during FIFA WC match against Tunisia/ Courtesy: Twitter

Belgium’s star striker Romelu Lukaku is currently spending a gala time in the ongoing FIFA World Cup in Russia. He has been one of the prime reasons that Belgium registered back to victories in the league matches. After defeating Panama (3-0) and Tunisia (5-2), Belgium have six points in the kitty while Lukaku has scored four goals from two games so far, certainly making him a strong contender for ‘Golden Boot’. Lukaku holds the record of most goals scored for Belgium. He‘s also one of the five players to have ever scored 50 goals in the Premier League before the age of 23. After all these achievements, the dynamic footballer recalled the hardships he went through while growing up. Walking down the memory lane, he mentioned that his present success in football is the outcome of the tough days seen by him and his family. A day before their opening game against Panama, a post written by Lukaku went up on a sports website. He wrote,

“I was six years old, and I came home for lunch during our break at school. My mum had the same thing on the menu every single day: Bread and milk. When you’re a kid, you don’t even think about it. But I guess that’s what we could afford.” “We were broke. Not just poor, but broke. I knew we were struggling. But when she was mixing in water with the milk, I realized it was over, you know what I mean? This was our life. Some days I'd come home from school and find my mum crying. So I finally told her one day, 'Mum, it's gonna change. You'll see. I'm going to play football for Anderlecht, and it's going to happen soon. We'll be good. You won't have to worry anymore,” he added. "I didn't say a word. I didn't want her to stress. I just ate my lunch. But I swear to God, I made a promise to myself that day. It was like somebody snapped their fingers and woke me up. I knew exactly what I had to do, and what I was going to do," writes Lukaku.

And this is how the making of one of the modern era greats began. Lukaku followed his will without being bothered by anything. His determination backed him in such a way that he scored 76 goals in 34 games at the age of 12. Surprisingly, he scored all those goals wearing his dad's shoes.

"When I was 12, I scored 76 goals in 34 games. I scored them all wearing my dad’s shoes. Once our feet got to be the same size, we used to share," added Lukaku.

He has now come a long way ahead, leaving all his hardships behind. The Manchester United striker is playing for his national team with a load of expectations and has gradually become one of the favourites in the ongoing tournament. At last, Lukaku wrote,

“I wish I could have one more phone call with [my grandfather], and I could let him know ... See? I told you. Your daughter is OK. No more rats in the apartment. No more sleeping on the floor. No more stress. We're good now. We're good.”