Belgian queen mistakenly congratulates Lukaku

Belgian Queen Mathilde embarrassingly mixed up Belgium's strikers after the country's 1-0 victory over Russia on Sunday, congratulating Romelu Lukaku for scoring the winning goal.

>>Reuters
Published : 24 June 2014, 03:41 PM
Updated : 24 June 2014, 03:41 PM

Lukaku made way after almost an hour for goalscorer, 19-year-old Divock Origi, brushing off the offered hand of coach Marc Wilmots and muttering angrily on the bench.

Video of the royal encounter was shown by Dutch-language broadcaster VRT late on Monday evening.

King Philippe and Mathilde were introduced to the players at a reception after the World Cup match in Rio de Janeiro. Lukaku had by that point calmed down.

"Bravo, really. And it's for you, the goal too," she said as she arrived at Lukaku.

"No, he's over there," Lukaku responded, pointing towards Origi.

"Well in any case you played very well," concluded the queen.

Belgian daily De Standaard reported that the queen had later apologized for her slip-up, explaining to journalists traveling on her plane back to Belgium that her confusion was caused because Lukaku used to have dread locks.

"He surprised me by having cut his hair," she said.