Belgium’s history boys did the nation proud, insists Martinez

ROBERTO MARTINEZ was full of praise for Belgium’s historymakers and hopes their bestever World Cup can be the catalyst to even bigger things.

The so-called ‘Golden Generation’ surpassed the heroes of 1986 with yesterday’s third-place play-off win against England in St Petersburg to ensure Belgium return home as bronze medallists.

‘We wanted to win it,’ said manager Martinez. ‘When you beat Brazil and get into the semi-final, the focus has to be to try to win the World Cup.

‘But you need to be realistic when you finish the tournament and look back.

‘These players made history back home and that’s all that matters. They deserve to have that accolade.

‘The generation of Mexico 86 set a real inspiration and real vision for all the footballers in Belgium.

‘Now this group of players overcame that and it’s historic. It took 32 years to be able to be in this position, so there’s real satisfaction and real success.

‘It’s the manner we achieved that — the football we played is Belgian football, our brand.

‘And the togetherness and flexibility we had tactically shows what we want to be as a footballing nation. It has been a really nice, successful journey, but in football you need to look forward and try to improve in the next opportunity that we have.’

Euro 2020 looks a great opportunity for the Belgians to take that next step.

Boasting a glut of excellent talents like Eden Hazard and Kevin de Bruyne, Manchester United striker Romelu Lukaku is among those bound to get better on the back of his four goals and Golden Boot challenge in Russia.

‘I think that Romelu had a fantastic tournament,’ said Martinez. ‘I’m delighted with his contribution.’