Roberto Martínez’s future unclear as Belgium’s golden crop falls short

03-Jul-2021 15:31:20 | The Guardian

The manager has refused to reveal whether he will stay in a job which will include overseeing a generational rebuild

When that inevitable question arrived, the one that had been put previously to Frank de Boer, Fernando Santos, Didier Deschamps and often accompanies a big-name exit from the Euros, Roberto Martínez went into evasive mode. Belgium’s golden generation may have reached the end in Munich on Friday but their head coach was equivocal on whether he would follow suit.

“This is a moment when it is very difficult to speak about anything else than the defeat and we are out of the Euros,” a crestfallen Martínez said after Belgium’s high-calibre but painful quarter-final loss to Italy. “It is still too raw and I don’t want to say anything that could be emotional. Now is time to analyse and assess but at the moment the feelings are of disappointment and sadness. That is what is in my head now.”