Report: Lukaku apologizes to Inter for claiming players had COVID-19 symptoms

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Romelu Lukaku has apologized to Inter Milan after suggesting 23 members of the club's 25-man squad suffered coronavirus symptoms in January, according to BBC Sport's Simon Stone.

The striker made the claims Tuesday during an Instagram Live conversation with Belgian television presenter Kat Kerkhofs. It's understood Inter were shocked by Lukaku's words and quickly reprimanded the 26-year-old.

"We had a week off in December, we returned to work and I swear that 23 out of 25 players were ill. I am not kidding," Lukaku said, according to reports relayed by BBC Sport. "We played against Radja Nainggolan's Cagliari and after about 25 minutes, one of our defenders (Milan Skriniar) had to leave the pitch. He could not continue and almost fainted.

"Everyone was coughing and had a fever. When I was warming up, I felt a lot hotter than usual. I hadn't suffered from a fever in years."

He continued: "After the game, there was a planned dinner with guests from Puma, but I thanked them and went straight to bed. We never did the COVID-19 tests at that moment, so we will never know for sure."

The club considers the matter closed following Lukaku's apology, sources told Stone.

Italy has Europe's highest mortality rate due to the coronavirus with over 25,000 deaths. The country has exceeded 187,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19.