FIX UP, LOOK SHARP

It’s June 19, 2000. In Brussels, a dark mood has descended across a city synonymous with dour-suited bureaucrats. While 48,000 people depart the King Baudouin Stadium, there’s a familiar feeling of aching disappointment laying heavy in the air as Euro 2000 hosts Belgium face up to leaving their own party early.

Across the North Sea in northern England, a 20-something Spaniard is on his summer holidays, having missed out on Wigan Athletic’s botched Second Division play-off adventure through injury. The odds of Roberto Martinez eventually managing Belgium look even slimmer than those of the Euro 80 finalists competing for international honours once again. A country better known for its cyclists appears to be hurtling down a hill with faulty brakes and a rusty chain.

Martinez is focusing on the final 12 months of his Wigan deal, five years after touching down at Springfield Park as one of the Latics’ fabled ‘Three Amigos’ alongside Jesus Seba and Isidro Diaz. The last of the Spaniards standing, he has just watched the wheels come off Wigan’s promotion challenge under Wembley’s Twin Towers against Gillingham. He knows that they – much like Belgium – face a mammoth rebuilding job.

Wind forward to mid-2021 and, with the coronavirus pandemic still raging, Martinez finds himself in very different circumstances – staring into the camera of his laptop from Brussels for a meeting with . Sat atop FIFA’s world rankings, his Belgium team have recently completed their latest round of competitive fixtures, signing off with an 8-0 battering of Belarus. That result, coupled with a victory