Didier Drogba came to Romelu Lukaku 's defence following his World Cup horror show.
The on-loan Chelsea striker, currently of Inter Milan, missed series of guilt-edged chances in the dying embers of Belgium 's costly 0-0 draw with Croatia. The result saw the Red Devils crash out of the tournament at the group stage, with manager Roberto Martinez already confirmed to be leaving his post.
Thursday's woes also left Lukaku, who was in tears after the final whistle and smashed one of the dugouts in a rage-fuelled outburst, to shoulder much of the blame as his nation home from Qatar earlier than expected. But Drogba - his childhood hero and former teammate at Stamford Bridge - was reluctant to criticise the 29-year-old, who came on as a half-time substitute after playing just 38 minutes of football since August.
"We all (felt sorry for Lukaku) but we cannot put the blame on someone who has been injured the last two months," Drogba declared on BBC One. "He comes on for 30 minutes and you want him to win the game. As a striker he should have been a bit more on his toes but it's very difficult to blame him for this.
Lukaku's most startling miss came on the hour mark, as he rattled the post when it seemed like the entire Ahmed bin Ali Stadium was waiting for the net to bulge and Belgium to leapfrog Croatia into second place. The ex- Manchester United hitman couldn't believe his luck when his shot cannoned back off the woodwork, but Drogba was sympathetic towards him.
"I think it's difficult," the Chelsea legend-turned-punit went on. "The defender is in front of you and the goalkeeper, this is his right foot, the way his body is pointing towards goal it’s difficult to turn twist and score. It's difficult. You need a few more games to find the rhythm. I think a player like [Filippo] Inzagh i would score, he would always be on his toes.
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"I think he's frustrated not only because he missed the goals but the spirit of this team during the tournament. The talks, the fights between players this is what he's frustrated about more than the goals he missed I think."
Those issues which Drogba was referring to marred Belgium's short-lived World Cup campaign, with reports of in-fighting among Martinez's squad boiling over into skirmishes on the pitch during under-par performances. The former Everton boss watched his ageing side lose 2-0 to eventual group winners Morocco in what proved to be fatal defeat, having scraped past Canada in their opening game.
"It's not easy to win games in the World Cup," Martinez bemoaned shortly before confirming his departure. "We weren't ourselves in the first game, we had a deserved defeat in our second game. Today we were ready, we created opportunities and today there is no regret. We're out but we can leave with our heads held high."
