The unfortunate statistic Chelsea’s Romelu Lukaku achieved during defeat at Euro 2024

Chelsea players have had a collective tough start to life representing their countries at the European Championship.

While some of their former stars such as N’golo Kante were reminding everyone of the class they possess, some of their current players have taken a little bit longer to get to speed with things.

Mykhailo Mudryk tried his best as part of a Ukraine side who were battered by Romania in one of the shock results so far.

Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images

Lukaku struggles for Belgium

However, that upset was trumped just hours later when Belgium, led by Romelu Lukaku, were defeated 1-0 by Slovakia.

The scoreline hardly tells the story of the game, with the Blues striker having two goals ruled out by VAR for different reasons.

While luck was not always on his side, there is certainly an element of blame to be taken by the striker for the defeat.

He missed three big chances in the match yesterday, and set an unwanted record when looking at his last few performances in international football tournaments.

Lukaku misses six big chances in 99 minutes

According to Squawka, the Belgium international at a stage had missed six big chances in less than 100 minutes at both World Cups and European Championships.

Chelsea supporters will no doubt be secretly hoping a player they are not a fan of has a decent tournament in order to give them a chance to actually sell him this summer.

Lukaku has been loaned out for the last two seasons to Italy, with them yet to find a club who are willing to pay the fee they want for a permanent deal.

If his country are to turn things around in this tournament, he is going to need to start finding the net quickly if they are to qualify for the knockout stages, with a notable fixture against Mudryk’s Ukraine to come later in the group stages.