Lukaku missed out on MOTM award in friendly because of his religious beliefs

Published July 26th, 2017 - 05:48 GMT
Romelu Lukaku
Romelu Lukaku

Romelu Lukaku missed out on a possible man of the match award after the Manchester derby in the US because of his Muslim faith.

The Manchester United striker, who cost an initial £75million from Everton, is having a fine pre-season and scored a superb goal in Houston last week.

International Champions Cup organisers discussed giving Lukaku the gong after United beat Manchester City 2-0 but quickly realised they could not.

All clubs sent a list to tournament officials of Muslim and Under 21 players who were not in a position to pose with alcoholic gifts.

In this case, Heineken were chief sponsors of the derby at the NRG Stadium in Texas, and Lukaku was not eligible.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan was the recipient of the award after a lively display in which he helped set up Marcus Rashford, who netted United’s second.

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