Belgium coach Roberto Martinez has denied claims of angry clashes amongst his players.
L’Equipe reported that Kevin de Bruyne, Jan Vertonghen and captain Eden Hazard clashed in the dressing room after Belgium’s shock defeat to Morocco on Sunday.
There were reports that Romelu Lukaku had to pull apart his feuding team-mates during an inquest about the 2-0 loss to the African side, which has left the Red Devils’ World Cup hopes in the balance.
Martinez snapped: “You’ve got some outlets in Belgium who are quite happy to jump on fake news, which is quite astonishing.
“It has made the group more aware that the less they listen to the noise from the outside, the better.
“A World Cup is the biggest sporting event in the world and there are many World Cups getting played.
“You can see that maybe a country like France did a good job with a story that became the main talking point of the outlets in Belgium.
“It shows that maybe there is more desire to find negative news around this team than get the nation together, support this team, enjoy the talent of the best generation that we’ve ever had in Belgian football.
“That was a lesson for all of us that we are here on our own. We are here to fight for what we believe is the way we want to play and hopefully the fans – the real fans – of the Red Devils can enjoy the process.”
