‘I don’t know if Roberto Martinez detested me, but Belgium could have won the 2018 World Cup if he’d picked me’ Radja Nainggolan opens up on his World Cup snub

Radja Nainggolan has never been the shy and retiring type.

The former Roma midfielder is the type of player to leave everything out there when he is on the pitch, while off it, he is never shy in speaking his mind.

His exclusion from the 2018 Belgium World Cup by former boss Roberto Martinez was something of a head-scratching decision at the time, and Nainggolan himself still wrestles with it.

Nainggolan opens up on missing out on the 2018 World Cup squad

“I deserved to be there, as I’d just had one of my best seasons ever that year with Roma,” he recalls to FourFourTwo. “I still don’t understand why I wasn’t in the squad for the World Cup, which we could have won. We ended up finishing third and I believe I could have made a difference.”

Martinez’s decision clearly still rankles with the 37-year-old, so has he ever been told why he did not make the trip to Russia?

“I don’t know if Martinez detested me, if he didn’t like my way of playing,” he adds. “But he never told me why he didn’t call me up for the World Cup. In a 23-man squad, how can you not find a place for a player who scored two goals in the Champions League semi-finals that year?”

That meant the midfielder had to watch from home, something he did not enjoy.

“Oh, I was terribly pissed off,” he continues. “I didn’t pretend not to be. I knew I deserved to be part of the group and that I could have contributed. Martinez probably didn’t like that I was out clubbing, that I was drinking or that I was smoking.

“But I’ve always proved my level and commitment on the pitch. My private life has nothing to do with it.”

Nainggolan’s versatility, which has seen him play in a number of midfield roles and also in defence, has been a strength during his career, but did this constant shuffle around the park perhaps hinder his international career, during which he won just 30 caps?

“That should be the other way round,” he insists. “If somebody can play several roles, they’re even more valuable at a tournament.

“I probably wasn’t a player that Martinez liked, but I’m sure we could have won the World Cup. I watched it with anger and passion, and imagined what I could have given the team, especially in the semi-final loss to France, or the Japan game when we scored at the death.

“I’ll be obsessed with it all my life.”