Wednesday, November 30, 2022 at 8:12 PM• Jordi Tomasowa • Last update: 20:17

National coach Roberto Martínez of Belgium calls the coverage of L’Equipe about quarrels in the group of players ‘fake news’. The French sports newspaper wrote on Monday that Belgium’s painful defeat at the World Cup against Morocco has put relations in the dressing room on edge. According to L’Equipe In the fierce mutual discussion afterwards, the selection was divided into two groups, with Eden Hazard and Jan Vertonghen standing nose to nose in the dressing room.

Martínez looked exasperated a few days later and contradicted the remarkable story. “We suddenly saw a storm coming from outside. There are apparently media outlets that like to jump on it fake news”, said the national coach of Belgium at the press conference in the run-up to the crucial group match with Croatia. “Maybe we listened too much to the sounds from the outside before the start of the tournament. The group is now even more aware that we should not do such a thing. You know: the lesson is that we are on our own.”

The alleged story is clearly high on Martínez, as it turned out when he was asked about it later. “A country like France has done a good job with a story that dominated the Belgian news. It shows that the will to find negative news around this team is greater than to encourage the team and enjoy the best generation in the history of Belgian football. I don’t know who leaked it, but the person who came up with it is a genius. That person has tried to win his own World Cup, instead of Belgium. He went for personal success, but scored an own goal for Belgium.”

The story was previously debunked by Hazard himself. “We didn’t fight. Jan is taller than me,” the Real Madrid striker said jokingly at a press conference. “No, none of it is true. There was no discussion. Jan and I still get along very well. That I did say that our defenders are not the fastest? Jan asked me if I had indeed said that. I said laughing that he is not so fast anymore. He agreed with me. Everyone knows me. I sometimes say something with a witticism.”

Belgium must pull out all the stops to ensure the knockout stage. Martínez’s team will face Croatia in the last group match on Thursday. With a victory over the vice world champion, the next round is a fact. The other group match is between Morocco and Canada.