Martinez happy to finish with a flourish as Belgium crush poor Cyprus

Roberto Martinez felt a 4-0 win over Cyprus was “the perfect way” to round out Belgium’s successful qualifying campaign for the 2018 World Cup.

While already certain of a place at next year’s tournament in Russia, Belgium finished with a ninth win in 10 Group H fixtures, with the only blemish on their record a 1-1 home draw with second-placed Greece in March.

Eden Hazard bagged a brace in Brussels, while younger brother Thorgan Hazard also found the net in a game that saw Jan Vertonghen win a record-breaking 97th cap for the hosts.

Romelu Lukaku came off the bench to score the fourth for Belgium, who will find out their group opponents for the World Cup when the draw takes place on December 1.

4-0 ! This is how we wanted to end our @EuroQualifiers ! Thx fans @Fanclub1895 ! See you in November #BELCYP #RoadtoRussia pic.twitter.com/hs67jxkc9U

— BelgianRedDevils (@BelRedDevils) October 10, 2017

“We played a very good game,” Martinez told the media, according to Nieuwsblad.

“It was not about the finish today, whether we scored five or six goals. We wanted to play well and we did that too.

“The players showed the willingness to work for each other against a good team in Cyprus.

“This was a perfect way to thank our fans for the qualifying round and to show what we can do. This was a good way to end the qualifiers.”