Fenerbahçe beat Alanyaspor 3-0 on Saturday, and Romelu Lukaku scored his first goal for the club. So far, I followed. It’s what happened next that made me open a new tab in my notebook.
He scored with his right foot, from a Levent Mercan cross. And to celebrate, he kicked the post. In rage. I was told this was a happy goal. Silly question, but do you kick the post when you’re pleased? In basketball, nobody kicks the backboard after a basket, I looked.
I dug into the background on the 7:32 train. Before this goal, there were 262 minutes of play and eleven matches, according to the sources. He had also missed a big chance early in the game, from a Mason Greenwood pass, over the bar. And in the previous match, in the Champions League, Fenerbahçe had lost 6-0 to Aston Villa. So I noted down: the rage may be the count of minutes coming out through the leg. I’m digging.
He said: “I’m obviously very happy, but above all pleased with this win. We absolutely had to react”. React, I underlined. The post was the first reaction. The win was the second.
The post, love, is the only defender who never backs off. At my place, it even leans a bit.
Another discovery: he came off in the 81st minute, and he hadn’t played that long in a match since June 2025. He said he feels “perfectly adapted now”. Adapted to the club, I assume, not to the post. The other two goals, from Kerem Aktürkoğlu and Vedat Muriqi, came in the second half. For them, I haven’t opened a tab yet.
On Tuesday they host Slavia Prague, then Galatasaray in the derby. I’ve set aside a column for posts. Anyway, I still have a lot to learn.
It’s true, we checked: RTBF Sport.
