Romelu Lukaku, born in Antwerp in 1993, remembers entire weeks without electricity at home and nights when his mother stretched the milk by mixing it with water so it would last until the next paycheck. Sometimes they had to borrow bread from the neighborhood bakery. His father, a former footballer, no longer had anything saved.
Amid that scarcity, Lukaku made a decision that sounded impossible for a child: he promised himself he would become the best footballer Belgium had ever seen. He made his professional debut with Anderlecht at 16 years and 11 days old, and from then on he never stopped climbing.
Today he is the all-time top scorer for the Belgian national team, with 89 goals to his name, far above any other player from the country. He has played in the 2014, 2018 and 2022 World Cups, and also made it to the 2026 tournament despite a muscle injury. Every goal he scores still carries the weight of that watered-down milk his mother served so the week would stretch a little further.