Martinez: Palace forward Benteke deserved international hat-trick

Roberto Martinez was full of praise for Christian Benteke after the Crystal Palace forward hit a hat-trick in Belgium’s 6-0 victory over Gibraltar on Monday.

Benteke, replacing the injured Romelu Lukaku, scored his first after just seven seconds to set a new record for the fastest ever World Cup qualifying goal.

Chelsea midfielder Eden Hazard was also on the scoresheet, as well as Axel Witsel and Dries Mertens, as Belgium maintained their 100 percent start to World Cup qualifying with their third victory on the bounce.

Former Everton boss Martinez was thrilled to see Benteke get on the scoresheet, and admits he was glad to see improvements in the striker’s play.

(Photo by Philippe Crochet/Photonews
via Getty Images)

“I wanted to use Christian – just because I have seen him be very sharp. In training I have seen him when he was first called up and now,” he said.

“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 [to see] 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.”