Historic qualifying event: Lukaku’s two goals in Estonia’s net match the legendary Pelé!

The Belgian national team played their sixth match of the Euro 2024 qualification on Tuesday evening, beating Estonia 5-0. Romelu Lukaku scored two goals in this match, equalling the stats of Pelé!

First place in the group, thirteen points – that’s the current record of the Belgians in the Euro 2024 qualification.

They beat Sweden 3-0 in their first match, drew with Austria 1-1, and recorded two more wins against Estonia (3-0) and Azerbaijan (1-0). In the fifth match, the Belgian national team faced an opponent they had already faced once in the qualification fights – Estonia.

A clear victory of Belgium was expected, and it happened. Jan Vertonghen opened the scoring in the 4th minute and fourteen minutes later Leandro Trossard made it 2:0.

Romelu Lukaku added the Belgians’ third and fourth accurate goals in the 56th and 58th minutes, making this a very special match. The AS Rome striker became the current top scorer of the qualification for the first time with eight goals.

And secondly, Lukaku scored his 77th goal for the national team, equalling the legendary Pelé in terms of goals scored for the national team. He also scored 77 goals for Brazil.

🚨 Romelu Lukaku has now scored as many international goals as Pele. 👀 pic.twitter.com/dCjFJG0SrO

— Attacking Football (@AttackingFooty) September 12, 2023

However, while Pelé scored most of his goals in friendly matches (51), Lukaku divided his goal contributions as follows.

He scored twenty-three times in friendlies, and in qualifying matches, whether for the Euros or the World Cup, he opened the net fifteen and eighteen times respectively. He scored ten goals in the Nations League, six at the Euros and five at the World Cup.

Then Charles De Ketelaere capped Belgium’s win against Estonia in the 88th minute. Lukaku and co. are therefore clearly on course for qualification for the Euros. Something very unexpected would have to happen for them to fail in the qualification.

Source: FIFA, Transfermarkt, Twitter / X