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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
Kyle Newbould

Romelu Lukaku shows frustration after Belgium World Cup exit with violent outburst

Romelu Lukaku was left visibly inconsolable after his Belgium side drew 0-0 with Croatia and were knocked out of the World Cup - and one of the dugouts felt the brunt of the striker's frustrations.

Belgium needed to beat Croatia in their final game to progress from Group F, but failed to find the decisive goal. After a lacklustre first-half in which the red Devils created little, manager Roberto Martinez decided to roll the dice, introducing Lukaku despite the striker playing just 31 minutes of club football since the start of September.

The former Everton man's presence clearly made an impact as his side finally managed to carve out chances. But unfortunately for him, a combination of poor luck and a lack of match sharpness led to the usually clinical finisher wasting a number of gilt-edged chances.

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READ MORE: Romelu Lukaku sent Divock Origi message after Belgium knocked out of the World Cup

Belgium's elimination at the group stages is by no means Lukaku's fault - they have scored once from their 34 shots in the group stages and Lukaku is clearly lacking game-time - but the Inter Milan striker cut a devastated figure after the final whistle, no doubt ruing the several chances that could have send his country through.

Assistant coach Thierry Henry attempted to console the 29-year-old, but by that time his frustration had boiled over and, upon leaving for the tunnel, Lukaku punched one of the dugout windows completely out of place.

While showing the incident, Gary Lineker told BBC: "You would inevitably blame yourself. You don't want to see that but you can understand it absolute frustration."

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