The now ex-coach of the Red Devils wanted to restore some truths, ten days after the elimination of Belgium from the group stage of the World Cup.
A page has turned with the Red Devils. The World Cup in Qatar has indeed sounded the end of the adventure for Roberto Martinez and several executives of the Belgian selection, including Eden Hazard. And the story ended badly since Belgium, which had legitimate ambitions after its third place in 2018, this time stalled from the group stage, victim of Morocco.
The end was all the more bitter for the Red Devils as the Qatari world championship highlighted the strong tensions reigning within the selection. Eden Hazard and Jan Vertonghen had some heated exchanges, whether on the pitch or through the media, and The team even claimed that the two teammates had come very close to coming to blows in the locker room, forcing Romelu Lukaku to intervene.
It’s totally wrong
“Yes, there are tensions in the group. It’s natural. The players have been evolving together for a very long time. It’s like in a family. If you don’t have tension or disagreement in a family, it’s because you don’t have emotions.” conceded Roberto Martinez at a press conference. But two weeks after the end of the adventure, the now former Belgian coach takes a completely different view, charging The team pour sa fake news.
“It is totally false. It is a very strong and committed group. False information came from a French media which explained that there had been a fight when it was not true”, he assured the microphone of the Cadena Ser. For the Spanish technician, the problem was elsewhere.
“When we played the game in Kuwait against Egypt, we realized we weren’t ready,” he explained, adding for RTBF: “In the previous two major tournaments, we won all the matches in the group stage. In Qatar, we therefore found ourselves in a new situation. In these first two matches, we did not reach our normal level. In the third game against Croatia, we played well, but the ball didn’t fit. »
