Reporting Sports in a refreshing style

Martinez remains coy on his future as Belgium boss after Euro exit

Roberto Martinez avoided questions regarding his future as Belgium boss after seeing his side crash out of Euro 2020 at the quarter-final stage with a defeat by Italy.

Goals from Nicolo Barella and Lorenzo Insigne ensured Roberto Mancini’s men will face Spain at Wembley next week in the semi-final, with Romelu Lukaku’s penalty just before the break not enough to help the Red Devils salvage something.

Belgium’s defeat in Munich means the country’s golden generation will once again go without silverware, having made it to the last-four at the 2018 World Cup in Russia before falling to world champions France.

But asked about his future at the helm with the 2018 semi-finalists, the 47-year-old Spaniard insisted the defeat was still too raw for him to make a decision, and refused to be drawn into saying something ’emotional’.

‘This is a moment where it is very difficult to speak about anything than the defeat,’ the former Wigan and Everton boss told a post-match press conference.

‘We are out of the Euros and at this moment it is too raw. I don’t want to say anything that could be emotional at the moment.

‘The feelings are sadness and disappointment because I don’t feel like these players need to be out of this tournament.

Read Also: BREAKING: Italy book Euro 2020 semifinal spot with win over Belgium

‘The players did everything they could to get as far as we could. It was two very good teams in this knockout stage and the margins went to them.’

Martinez took the Belgium job in August 2016, succeeding Marc Wilmots after the Euros that year in France.

The Spaniard however signed a contract in May last year to take him through until after the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

You might also like

Leave A Reply

Your email address will not be published.