The Football Interview is a new series in which the biggest names in sport and entertainment join host Kelly Somers for bold and in-depth conversations about the nation's favourite sport.
We'll explore mindset and motivation, and talk about defining moments, career highs and personal reflections. The Football Interview brings you the person behind the player.
Interviews will drop on weekends across BBC iPlayer, BBC Sounds and the BBC Sport website. This week's interview will be broadcast on BBC One from 00:15 GMT on Sunday, 15 February (and after Sportscene in Scotland).
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When Roberto Martinez first joined Wigan in 1995, he probably did not even dream that nearly 20 years later he would manage them to FA Cup victory.
But that is exactly how it panned out for the Spaniard, who masterminded their 1-0 victory over Manchester City in the 2013 final.
The Latics were also relegated from the Premier League that season, and within weeks of their Wembley success Martinez had joined Everton.
Three years later he was sacked - and his two jobs since have been at international level - first with Belgium, and now Portugal.
Martinez, 52, has been in his current role since January 2023, guiding Portugal to their second Nations League title when the beat Spain last year.
Less than a month after that match, Portugal mourned the death of forward Diogo Jota, who died along with his brother Andre Silva in a car crash in northern Spain. Martinez said the team "want to honour his memory every day".
In this extended interview with Kelly Somers, Martinez spoke about a range of things, including winning the FA Cup, Belgium's 'golden generation' and why he has never drunk alcohol.
Kelly Somers: Let's start with football. Why football?
Roberto Martinez: For me, it's a way of living. I was born in a family that was breathing football. My dad was mad about football. My dad was a coach at that time - a local team. I would be the mascot and I've got pictures where probably at the age of two and three, I would be listening to the team talks, and I would be in that environment of the dressing room. So that, for me, was a safe zone. I thought that all the kids did that. I thought that was the normal thing to do. And then I realised that it was the opposite. Not many kids had the opportunity to be in a team talk of the local team!
Kelly: Was that local team the first proper team you played for?
Roberto: Yes - under-nines. In school in Spain, you play futsal. As a young student, you play with your futsal team in school on Friday and then on Saturday you play with a football team.
Kelly: Was there a point where you thought, 'OK, I could make this'... when you were looking around maybe at the other other kids and thought, 'oh, I'm at a good level here'?
Roberto: At 16, if you want to play football, you have to go to a more professional standard. I got the opportunity to go to Zaragoza - move to the big city, study there - and then you see your parents coming to watch the game at the weekend... almost a ritual.
Kelly: When you look back on your career, which club do you feel was where you had your most success? Or you enjoyed the most?
Roberto: I enjoyed them all. They were all different, they were all challenging. I think in 1995 when the Bosman ruling came out [enabling football players to leave clubs at the end of their contracts for free], we were the first three Spaniards to come to the UK.
Kelly: The 'Three Amigos', weren't you?
Roberto: The 'Three Amigos', yes! I think as a human being, we're always fearful... we don't like change. I was always the opposite. My answer would be: 'Why not?' So... 'Would you like to go to the UK without speaking a word of English and play football?' My answer was: 'Why not?'
Kelly: So you couldn't speak any English when you came over?
Roberto: No, no. We arrived the first day at Wigan and I remember the press officer saying: 'Would you mind to do a little bit... a couple of words with the local media?' I said: 'I would love to, but I don't speak a word of English!' And those are the challenges that they really... they make you as a person.
Kelly: Let's talk just quickly about that FA Cup final, because that's still one of the greatest shocks... one of the greatest FA Cup finals in history. How do you reflect upon that all these years later?
Roberto: With a lot of pride. Dreams can really happen in the FA Cup. And I think that game... you play the champions of England - Man City - with all the stars. The odds are against the underdog. I think everybody likes it. I always found out that we had so many neutral fans that day... that's what happens in the FA Cup. But to actually perform and deserve to win was very special.
Kelly: At what point did you think, 'management is for me'? Was it always management?
Roberto: Always. Always, yeah, because my dad was managing. I thought that was the best.
Kelly: Did you almost envisage being a manager before a player?
Roberto: Yes, because I never saw my dad play. And it was fascinating because when I came to the UK in 1995, straight away they tell you there is no 'I' in team. You have to adjust to the group and you have to do whatever it takes to be with the group. The reality doesn't work like that. It's the opposite. You have to address the 'I' before you can create a team. And sometimes you are in the corner of a room thinking... completely different culture, different background, and you expect it to perform without having help to be settled, to feel that you are valuable. There are many aspects that I learned from my own experience of being away from home. Without me knowing it, that was preparing me for that side. You need to get... a team to be together, to have the same goal and to be able to perform on the pitch.
Kelly: Other than your dad, who's had the biggest influence on Roberto Martinez the manager?
Roberto: I was intrigued by Johan Cruyff - the way he managed Barcelona. He came in, he changed completely the way that the game was played. I think many, many people in the last 100 years have influenced the game, but I don't think anybody has influenced the game the way that Johan Cruyff did it, because it changed. It was more a technical game, it was a possession-based game, it was about a numerical advantage. And then you created the ones that didn't follow that way of football - they had to find a way to counter that style. I followed many other managers... I think what John Toshack did when he went to Real Sociedad and then went to Real Madrid. I love Pacho Maturana - what he did with the Colombian team. Arrigo Sacchi - so structured and rigorous and methodic. I always enjoyed how managers get their message across to the players and in a different way.
Kelly: Have you ever had an opportunity to go and watch any of those managers? We've spoken to Andoni Iraola and Brendan Rodgers this year, and they talked about managers that they went and learned from. Have you had anyone like that - any mentors or anything?
Roberto: I was just watching games. I liked to watch a game and I tried to double-guess: 'How did that happen? How did you take the risk to get to the player to understand what you're trying?' I never went to see anybody work, but I followed many World Cups. I started managing in the Premier League in 2009. Every summer with my wife, I would invite her to go to South Africa first, and then Poland, and then Brazil, and then France. Our holidays were following the big tournaments!
Kelly: So she thought she was going on a lovely, exotic holiday, but she was actually going for a tournament...
Roberto: I think the first time, yeah. The first time.
Kelly: Then she cottoned on.
Roberto: And then she knew. I still owe her. From this day, I still owe her a nice honeymoon - because the honeymoon when we got married was South Africa, and she was delighted. She didn't realise that it was the World Cup!
Kelly: You've obviously seen management from both sides as well - in terms of club management and international management. How do the two differ?
Roberto: Coaching in the Premier League is about tomorrow and it was about preparing the game that is in front of you, preparing the players so they can make a difference in winning the game. International football is about trying to find out the best talent and then to make it in a structured way, to make it competitive - and you've got three days to do that. That's very different to doing it in a club. Everything is more tactically synchronised - everything can be more methodical. International football is about creating good mood, creating a sense of pride, creating high-performance teams that they follow in their dreams because when you represent your national team, it affects your family... the neighbours. If you win, the whole country wins. When you lose, the whole country loses. It's a completely different way of enjoying the game. I was fascinated about being involved in a World Cup - that was one of my dreams as a kid. The first World Cup I remember - 1978, Argentina - Mario Kempes, scoring in the final, then 1982 was in Spain, so it was a big impact. So for me, the move to international football was just to experience a World Cup. Then I enjoyed it so much that I stayed almost 10 seasons now.
Kelly: Let's discuss your time with Belgium, because what an incredible group of players you had there - the 'golden generation', they said. What challenges did that job bring with it and what did you get from that period?
Roberto: First and foremost was to cope with that tag of 'golden generation'. It wasn't a pressure that the players were not used to because obviously you're talking about the players that were in the most demanding dressing rooms. From Eden Hazard to Kevin de Bruyne, Dries Mertens, Romelu Lukaku, Axel Witsel, Jan Vertonghen, Thomas Vermaelen, Vincent Kompany, Thibaut Courtois, Yannick Carrasco... you're talking about the generation. But I think we managed to focus on, 'OK, let's be as good as we can together and let's become the golden generation.'
I think that was a beautiful journey to go to the World Cup in 2018. After seven games, we won six. We only lost the semi-final against France 1-0 - there were little margins - but then we came third by winning the bronze medal in the last game. That is the moment that it became the golden generation. At that moment, it was a shift into what we could do from that point on and that team stayed four years consecutively with the number one ranking. It was a very interesting time to try to get a focus of everybody having that common goal that was trying to make history for Belgian football and it was really, really enjoyable.
Kelly: I always ask in these interviews for my interviewee to tell me a game from their career, playing or managerial, that they wish they could relive...
Roberto: I think if I could relive a game it would be the semi-final with Belgium against France because we lost 1-0. I felt we were the better team - we had almost 60% possession - and it was just decided by one action... and if it is one game that I could relive to try to change it, it would be that one.
Kelly: Do you think about it a lot, or are you able to just park it now?
Roberto: No, sometimes I like to think about it. If we were going to play it again with the same situation, what could have been done differently? And that helps. I think the margins are so small. You've got the best players possible of two generations and I think you can learn from already having the experience of being in a game like that.
Kelly: And you've not got a bad crop of players now at Portugal, have you? You've already won the Nations League and what an opportunity potentially ahead for you. The pressure is going to be there again.
Roberto: But it's an enjoyable pressure because it is true... we arrived in Portugal - huge tradition, always created big players through the history now that we celebrated the moment that Eusebio won the Ballon d'Or in 1965. You've got players like Luis Figo, Joao Pinto, Rui Costa... it's a tradition in Portugal, but they won everything apart from the World Cup. We got an incredible commitment from the players because this is probably a mixture of four generations. You've got the captain [Cristiano Ronaldo], who is 41 years old, to the youngest player who was born the year the captain made his debut for the national team. So, we're looking forward. The first step was to qualify. We did that and I always believe that there has never been a winning team that arrives to the tournament. The winning team becomes the winning team in the tournament.
Kelly: That captain, of course, is Cristiano Ronaldo. What's it like managing him?
Roberto: Very easy, because of his high standards, his expectations of how the work should be done and his commitment to the game. He truly is an example of what you should do to represent Portugal and the national team. And now he's adapted, obviously, after 21 years in the national team - he's adjusted. He's a goalscorer, he's an important player for us, and it's the player that he is now that is important for me. As a national team coach, a player that has scored 25 goals in the last 30 international games... it's not that he's playing because of what he's done in the past, it's what he's done now.
Kelly: The question everyone's asking at the moment is: 'How long can he go on for?' As someone that's seen him close up, how long do you think he can keep playing for?
Roberto: Well, we got all the stats. If you were going to analyse a player that is dropping at physical level, that's not the case. His physical stats are of a player that could go on and on and on. I think it's more a question of when he'll feel that is the right time. I think he's a player that is very critical with himself. When he doesn't see that he can help the team, he'll be the one that will decide when to stop.
Kelly: You've got two girls and you're married to a Scottish lady, is that correct?
Roberto: Absolutely.
Kelly: Is that from your time in Scotland?
Roberto: In Motherwell, yeah. That was the best thing!
Kelly: So that must be quite the culture kind of mix at home?
Roberto: Especially when you are the international team coach of Portugal playing against Scotland. I think it's been four times now that we played with Belgium against Scotland. Obviously with my wife, it's not a problem. It's more the in-laws - it's difficult for them to support a team that is different than Scotland! But, no, that's part of the fun. I'm very, very lucky and probably that's the biggest achievement that I want to have in my life is to be the best father that I can be and the best husband that I can be. Everything else is going to be just part of the journey.
Kelly: Tell me something about yourself that might surprise me.
Roberto: I've never tasted alcohol.
Kelly: Not one drop?
Roberto: Never.
Kelly: Impressive.
Roberto: Yeah. And it was a promise. When I was 16 and I had the opportunity to go to Zaragoza, I went to my dad and I said: 'I really want to go.' And I said: 'What do you think?' He said: Well, it's the worst thing you could do because you're going to be very young - 16. You're going to be away from home and the first thing you're going to do is start drinking, start smoking, you're going to give up your studies.' And I said: 'Well, I promise you, I'll do my degree, I'll never drink, I'll never smoke.' And then since that day, that was my commitment, so I'm 52 now and I'm proud to say that I never touched a drop of alcohol.
Kelly: If you were to win the World Cup next summer...?
Roberto: Probably, yes, I would be quite happy to make another commitment!