Romelu Lukaku was not particularly impressive in Belgium's loss to France in the semifinal of the 2018 World Cup on Tuesday evening compared to his performance against Brazil, and former Nigeria skipper Jay-Jay Okocha has admitted that the Manchester United striker went missing when it mattered most.

France prevailed 1-0 thanks to Samuel Umtiti's goal in the 51st minute off an assist from Antoine Griezmann's corner kick from the right.

Only England captain Harry Kane had scored more goals than Lukaku prior to today's tie at Saint Petersburg Stadium, which made Okocha wonder why the Belgium number nine blew away the chance to catch up with the Tottenham Hotspur man in the race for the Golden Boot.

''Belgium were a bit poor in the final third, Lukaku was very poor today, he didn't seem to get himself in the right position for the whole ninety minutes,'' Okocha stated in his full time analysis on SuperSport.

''This is the type of game where you need your striker to come on board especially when you have a chance to win the Golden Boot, today he didn't look like one that wanted it.

''We all know that Lukaku's problem is consistency, he is never consistent. It was as if he threw away all his efforts today, the effort that he put in against Brazil.''

Romelu Lukaku is Belgium's all-time leading scorer with 40 goals from 74 appearances.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

Photo Credit : belgianreddevils.be