by Kadeem Simmonds

Romelu Lukaku said yesterday that he used the racial abuse he received as a youngster as motivation.

The Everton striker spoke about how when playing in Belgium for Anderlecht’s under-15 side, he was the victim of racism from opposition parents but he dealt with it by scoring goals.

“I didn’t suffer too much but when you hear it for the first time you are like ‘Oh my God’,” Lukaku said.

“But I just responded by scoring goals. I used it as motivation.

“I remember one game for Anderlecht under-15s, a parent said something but we ended up winning 7-1 and I scored four, so it doesn’t matter.

“I’ve not experienced it (racism) like other players but it is still out there, we all know that.

“We need to make sure that kids know discrimination is not good and that football has to be played in a fair way and [people] need to support their team and don’t have to shout at other players for race or religion.

“They don’t have to discriminate, we are all equal. We need to show this to kids, and when their kids are playing football then they’ll remember what we said.”