Cole’s fellow pundit Ian Wright, the former Arsenal and England striker, agreed with Cole.
“When you’re going through what Lukaku is going through, this is the type of chance you want,” said Wright. “He’s left-footed, take it with your left foot.”
And former Manchester United midfielder Roy Keane also raised doubts about Lukaku. “How badly does he want to save his Chelsea career?”
Lukaku’s fitness had been questioned by manager Thomas Tuchel before the kick-off on Sunday, when deciding not to put him in the starting line-up.
“He is not fit enough for the intensity of our game in an FA Cup semi-final,” Tuchel said.
“It’s not easy to come into a game such as this with so much riding on it after a spell out with injury.
“It’s just a case of him not having as many minutes recently as the other players, his match fitness is not quite there otherwise there’s a big chance that he would have started today.”
The 28-year-old forward’s last goal was in Chelsea’s FA Cup quarter-final victory against Middlesbrough on March 19. He was wasteful with two headers in the Champions League defeat at home to Real Madrid.
