Jose Mourinho Praises Scoring Machine Lukaku But Gives Credit to Whole Team for Belgian's Form

Jose Mourinho was full of praise for Romelu Lukaku’s “amazing” goal-scoring exploits this season, but was quick to give credit to his team as a whole for the form of the striker.

Lukaku wrote himself into Manchester United’s history books with a brace in their comprehensive 4-1 victory over CSKA Moscow. The Belgian became the first United player to score 10 goals in his opening nine matches, surpassing Sir Bobby Charlton’s record of nine in nine.

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Though Lukaku is grabbing all the headlines, Mourinho - speaking to Sky Sports - praised his entire team’s effort for their Champions League group-stage win in Russia, with man-of-the-match Anthony Martial grabbing a goal and two assists and Henrikh Mkhitaryan scoring in the second half before CSKA’s consolation goal.

"It is a great achievement but it is only possible with a good team," claimed Mourinho.

"Without a good team it is not possible and the team is playing well. They are amazing numbers for Romelu. He is humble and wants to learn and improve all the time.

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"I think ambition is there and I trust he can keep performing for us."

United will host lowly Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Saturday, but after they’re midweek exploits and with seven players out injured, Mourinho feels that his side are at a disadvantage.

"I think the performance can only be good for the team and the players," he stated.

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"For the team confidence is good because six points in two matches in the Champions League puts us in a good position and for the players individually it is also good because we had very good performances.

"(Chris) Smalling and (Victor) Lindelof had very good performances, (Ander) Herrera has not started a match in a long time and had a good performance, so did Anthony Martial - and I am speaking about the players who are not starting matches.

"The Premier League is another story. We play Saturday 3pm against a fresh team and we have to play after this match.

"We have to keep our feet on the ground, stay humble and follow our direction because we are having a very good start to the season.

"We have started competitions strong in August and September and have now just one more game, a difficult one."