Striker Romelu Lukaku squandered three clear opportunities in the first half and was denied two goals by technology in the second half, as Belgium lost 0-1 to Slovakia in the first round of Group E Euro 2024.

Lukaku played poorly against Slovakia, missing three clear opportunities in the first half. In the first five minutes, Lukaku took turns hitting goalkeeper Martin Dubravka at close range, then clumsily handled the face-off, causing the opportunity to pass.

In the 42nd minute, the Chelsea striker wasted a similar opportunity. Receiving a long pass from Yannick Carrasco, Lukaku controlled the ball and tried to dribble past goalkeeper Dubravka (pictured), but made a mistake and let the ball go out of bounds.

In the second half, in addition to the two goals denied by technology, Lukaku also failed to score twice inside the penalty area.

In the 56th minute, Leandro Trossard hung the ball to the far post for Amadou Onana to head the pass to Lukaku from close range, into an empty net.

The 31-year-old striker quickly grabbed the ball and moved it to the midfield line, because he was sure he had just scored a 1-1 equalizer for Belgium.

But VAR intervened and refused the goal.

In the 86th minute, Lois Openda accelerated on the left wing and crossed for Lukaku to put his left foot in the net and hit goalkeeper Martin Dubravka.

Lukaku ran up again, holding the ball, sharing the joy with his teammates. Coach Dominico Tedesco ran wildly on the touchline, but the Belgian team was once again denied a goal because of technological factors.

After consulting VAR, referee Umut Meller discovered that Openda used his hands to control the ball before quickly passing it to his teammates. To accurately determine whether or not the ball has touched hands, the referee relies on Snickometer technology, which first appeared at Euro 2024.

Accordingly, the Euro 2024 match ball is equipped with a motion sensor microchip that can track every touch at a speed of 500 times per second. The chip embedded in the ball combined with snickometer technology can accurately determine whether a player at Euro 2024 touches the ball or is offside.

Not only Lukaku, Belgium’s attack had a very bad day. Leandro Trossard (No. 9) was also ungrateful when he shot over the bar in front of Dubravka’s goalkeeper-less goal in the first half, then squandered the opportunity at the beginning of the second half, from Lukaku’s wall.

Man City star Jeremy Doku (No. 22) failed at home, allowing Ivan Schranz to score the only goal in the 7th minute.

Kevin De Bruyne had four key passes, creating a clear opportunity but his teammates could not take advantage of it.

Bad luck continues to follow Lukaku, making fans fear that if he continues to play as a starter, the Belgian team will fail at Euro 2024.

“That’s the end of bad luck! Belgium won when Lukaku was on the bench” – a Belgian fan shared on social networks.

Another fan said: “Acknowledging Lukaku’s true multi-nationality, the World Cup makes him the hero of Croatia, the Euro makes him the savior of Slovakia!”.

The third continues: “Anyone can score, but Lukaku can’t”

According to Opta, Belgium failed to score from the last 47 shots at the World Cup and Euro, including 11 clear chances. In the 2022 World Cup, it was Lukaku’s incompetence that caused Belgium to fail to win against Croatia in the final round and leave the tournament immediately after the group stage.