Romelu Lukaku's humbling apology to Chelsea fans after bombshell interview

Romelu Lukaku has publicly apologised for his bombshell interview which landed him in hot water with Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel.

The 28-year-old was dropped for the Blues' thrilling 2-2 draw with title rivals Liverpool on Sunday after his unauthorised interview with Sky Sports Italy from early December was aired.

In the footage, Lukaku criticised Tuchel's tactics and claimed he wanted to return to Inter Milan, having left the Italian champions - who have "the best fans in the world" - just five months earlier for a club-record fee of £97.5million.

The Belgium international's comments sparked fury at Stamford Bridge, having returned from injury to score two vital goals in as many games before their crunch title match against Liverpool.

Now, after a sit down with Tuchel and stern rebuke from Blues bosses, Lukaku has offered an apology, vowing to restore the trust of supporters.

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"To the Chelsea fans, I'm sorry for the upset I caused," the Blues striker began.

"You guys know the connection I've had with this club since my teenage years. I totally understand you guys being upset.

"It's up to me to restore your trust now. I will do my best, show commitment every day on the training ground and in the games to make sure we win."

Lukaku's admission that he thought he would be joining a giant like Barcelona, Real Madrid or Bayern Munich once he left Inter particularly angered supporters, much like his plea to former striker partner Lautauro Martinez to stay at the San Siro 'until he comes back.'

"What I mean by that is that kids have a certain type of dream of playing for those football clubs," the former Manchester United and Everton marksman continued.

"For me, my club was Chelsea. Everybody knows that from being 10, 11 years old - I said I always wanted to play for Chelsea.

"There's images of when I came [to Stamford Bridge] with my school, on a school trip, I said I wanted to play for Chelsea.

"I came when I was 18, it didn't go so well, now I am back here at 28, I think, the prime years of my career. I can't mess this up.

"I worked really hard for the last 10 years to get this opportunity, I'm really happy to be here."

"I have to show my commitment to the fans, to make sure we win games and a lot of trophies at the end of the season."

Tuchel confirmed Lukaku had apologised internally ahead of Chelsea's League Cup semi-final clash with London rivals Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday.

"We are happy we took the time that it needed to look on it and to talk calmly about it. This is what we did," the Blues boss stated.

"Romelu apologised and is back in the squad for today's training which is later. For me, the most important thing was to clearly understand and believe that it was not intentional.

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"He did not do this intentionally to create this kind of noise in front of a big game.

"Secondly, it was the very first time. Before, when he seemed in his opinion to be ready to play from the start after his injury, and we thought he needed to readapt to the intensity a little bit more, there was never the slightest behaviour against the team.

"So it was the very first time that we actually felt in this way. And these are very important points to stay calm, understanding that it's not as big as maybe people want it to be.

"It's also not small, but it's small enough to stay calm, to accept an apology and to move forward."