Inter Milan sealed their progression to the Champions League final on Tuesday evening.
Inter led 2-0 going into the semi-final second leg at San Siro.
Simone Inzaghi’s side were expected to get the job done and they did just that as they won 1-0 in the Italian capital.
Lautaro Martinez scored the only goal of the game in the 74th minute as Inter comfortably prevailed 3-0 on aggregate.
Romelu Lukaku and Thierry Henry’s interview after Inter 1-0 AC Milan
Romelu Lukaku was named on the bench for the match.
He entered the fray in the 66th minute and was impressive in his side’s victory.
Thierry Henry covered the game as a pundit on CBS Sports. Lukaku was called for an interview with the station after the match.
Henry was Lukaku’s coach at Belgium and their special relationship was on full display in a beautiful interview. Watch it below…
(The whole interview is worth a watch but Lukaku and Henry’s special relationship can be seen from 04:25 onwards)
Kate Abdo asked Lukaku: “You guys seem like you are close. Do you miss working with Thierry?”
Lukaku replied: “Yeah I do. [Thierry is] very, very old school and strict. When we met I was at Everton, I think it was my last season. I told him ‘you know what, I want to hear it from you. Give me the business. What can I do better?’
“We sat together every day for that training camp. 8 days, two hours – watching every game and every clip… ‘There your touch was bad, there you did well’.
“It was always half-and-half. And I had my best year in the Premier League that year. And then with the national side I started scoring every game. I’m very grateful to him – he still does it today.
“I like it. Tough coaches who tell me the real things I want to hear. You don’t want to be pampered all the time, I think.”
Jamie Carragher then asked Henry what Lukaku was like to work with.
The Frenchman replied: “He was a pain in the you know what, but in a good way. I was the same. It’s always for the good of the team. Always try to challenge everybody. At times he’s very critical of himself and that can bring him down sometimes, because he can’t see the positive side of it.
“Why I am happy with him is that after the World Cup it wasn’t easy. But he came back and it’s the first time I saw him like that against proper adversity when he’s slowly but surely coming back and showing he can deliver no matter what – even when everyone is against him.
“That’s a sign of greatness. Hopefully, whoever you meet in the final, you can have a good game and you guys can hopefully win it and I will be happy for you.”
When asked about his experience after the 2022 World Cup, Lukaku expanded: “The World Cup was very tough for me. For the first time in 15 years playing football I went through a moment like this. I let my country down. Playing for your country is amazing and when you play at the World Cup you want to make the best of it.
“Because we all knew as players and staff that this was our last chance. And to go out in the way we did… I took everything into my mind when I left camp and I really felt down.”
Henry revealed he went the extra mile to make sure Lukaku was okay after the tournament in Qatar.
He said: “For two weeks I was worried and he knows it, because I texted him every day just asking him how he was because it wasn’t easy.
“You guys don’t understand what was happening. It wasn’t easy but he came out of it. And that’s why I’m very proud of him. It was really far from where he is right now.”
What a special interview.
Lukaku’s Inter Milan side will face either Manchester City or Real Madrid in the Champions League final. The match will take place in Istanbul on June 10.
