Tuesday 11 October 2016 09:55, UK
Roberto Martinez was full of praise for Christian Benteke after his hat-trick in Belgium's 6-0 win over Gibraltar.
Replacing the injured Romelu Lukaku, Benteke scored after just seven seconds in the Algarve as the Belgians romped to an easy victory.
Former Everton manager Martinez said the Crystal Palace striker looked sharper than he did during the international fortnight in September, and was pleased by his contribution.
"I wanted to use Christian - just because I have seen him very sharp. In training I have seen him when he was first called up and now.
"When he was first called up, he was almost rushed. He had a really poor pre-season, he couldn't settle where he was. He was thinking about the next move.
"Now he is a completely different player. I have seen him strong I have seen him match fit. I wanted to see him today how he could play in a game where we were going to spend most of the time in their half.
"I wanted to see, movement, his hold up play. Not just how he would be in the box so I was pleased.
"I was pleased with the manner that he started in the game, pleased with the contribution, but scoring a hat-trick. and contributing the way that he did is going to be really good for him and he deserves that."
The win upheld Belgium's 100 per cent record in Group H, but they are still level on points with Greece in the road to Russia.
Martinez was also pleased with the team performance against the minnows, who have now conceded 14 goals in their three group games so far.
"I think it would be wrong to highlight one player today. I think if it was an individual performance it would have been very damaging.
"I think it has been a good collective performance from everyone, from first minute to the last. We never lost the sense of professionalism and doing things for each other."
