How Antonio Conte revived Romelu Lukaku after weight gain at Manchester United

It almost seems that the script is written for Manchester United's cast-offs to come back and haunt them in the Europa League final with Inter Milan.

Both sides still need to win their respective semi-finals - United against Sevilla on Sunday and Inter against Shakhtar Donetsk on Monday - but if it turns out to be the case, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will see players almost unrecognisable on the pitch, particularly Romelu Lukaku.

Solskjaer showed no resistance to selling Lukaku to Inter last summer for £73million, a club record for the Serie A side.

'I'm very confident that we'll get goals from (Anthony) Martial and (Marcus) Rashford. Dan James will create and Jesse Lingard will get more,' Solskjaer said when asked why he had allowed an exit without a direct replacement.

Both Martial - 23 in all competitions - and Rashford - 22 in all competitions - increased their returns following Lukaku's departure, but neither came close to laying a glove on the Belgian's rolling figure of 31 goals for the season.

James managed just four goals - only one since the turn of the year - while Lingard went from five goals in Lukaku's final season at Old Trafford to four so far in this campaign.

While he has sparkled in his first year at the San Siro, he hasn't been quite as impactful as Brazilian Ronaldo, who managed 34 in his debut season in 1997-98.

Lukaku, for all the derision and critique over his weight gain he received in Manchester, has been a class apart in Serie A.

His strike against Bayer Leverkusen in the 2-1 quarter-final win to set up a meeting with Shakhtar in Germany made it nine straight Europa League games in which he has scored.

So what changed aside from the obvious?

The key points are as follows: being deployed in a 3-5-2 system that was designed to suit him above all else, playing under a manager in Antonio Conte who firmly believes he has the best striker in the world and Lukaku finally got answers about his weight gain.

One of the first things Conte did was secure Lukaku an appointment with a specialist to understand just why he had ballooned to more than 100kg.

The nutritionist reportedly produced such a thorough analysis of the Belgian striker that even the decomposition of his body waste was checked over, according to ESPN.

While it may have seemed maniacal lengths to go to, this was the club's record buy and if they were going to win titles and dethrone now nine-time consecutive Serie A champions Juventus, it was nothing.

It transpired that Lukaku had a digestive problem and so a diet change was in order. Fried foods were gone, as were potatoes and alcohol - although the latter was a moot point as Lukaku is teetotal.

By the time the first month was out - and he had netted on his Serie A debut with Inter against Lecce - he had shed half a stone. More followed. The diet was working, Lukaku looked great and felt great. It showed, too.

Vegetables, fish, and pasta became Lukaku's new normal - a perfect mix of protein and carbs to keep fuelled by also lean.

But Lukaku deserves credit for the work he put in long before he arrived to make this move a success. It has come down to more than just a change of ingredients on his plate.

While being public enemy No 1 at Old Trafford as he toiled away in a lone striker role, Lukaku was busy off the pitch learning Italian. Languages come naturally to him given he speaks French, Spanish, English, Portuguese and a bit of German, also.

It made his transition on the pitch a smooth one, allowing him to express his true feelings - good and bad - for the 90 minutes that counted most in any given week.

The formation switch has been key as well. At United he was the focal point of a 4-2-3-1 a lot of the time but that was thrown out at Inter in favour of Conte's preferred 3-5-2.

That saw Lukaku partnered alongside Argentine star Lautaro Martinez. For the first time consistently in his career, Lukaku was sharing the box with another orthodox No 9 and the rewards were more fruitful than many could have predicted.

There was no bedding in period, no communication breakdowns between the pair. They became so in-sync that both Lukaku and Martinez even wore the same outfit to a game once.

With the disruptive Mauro Icardi pushed out to Paris Saint-Germain, Conte's whole system was designed to get the best from his two frontmen.

Lukaku's 31 goals was complimented by 19 from Martinez. Finishing a point off Juventus in Serie A brings obvious disappointment but a combined 50 goals from this team's two stars bodes well moving forward.

And while Martinez's numbers fall someway below his strike partner, the work he does off the ball is as important as any other factor when talking about Lukaku's resurgence in Milan.

The Argentine will do all the running off the ball Lukaku won't and the space it opens up - given defenders know he is such a threat himself - has created ample opportunities for Lukaku to punish.

That unselfishness is invaluable. At United there was neither the link-up nor the willingness to build everything around Lukaku. With the benefit of hindsight, it would only have gotten worse at Old Trafford had this move never materialised.

The scrutiny at United is immense, arguably one of the most intense clubs from a media side anywhere in the world.

In Italy that pressure lands at the feet of Juventus. It allowed Lukaku to change scenery, a fresh start and in a system designed to maximise his goal return, it was no shock he felt right at home.

Now the challenge is to end it with a trophy.

'It's up to him and his desire to improve,' Conte told Inter TV after victory over Getafe in the last-16.

'The important thing is that each of us is hungry to raise the bar and try to grow more and more.'

Fellow former United forward Dimitar Berbatov sent the warning Lukaku himself couldn't dare give now.

'I always said I liked him as a player, that if he got chances he would score goals,' he told Betfair. 'He's very quick, and very strong. He's the main danger for whoever they play against.

'Inter also have Alexis Sanchez and Ashley Young, who will know United very well. If they play United in the final, these players will want revenge, to show United that they were wrong to let them go.'

How sweet it would be for Lukaku to show Solskjaer exactly what he's missing should the pair reunite in Friday night's finale.