'I still don’t know how we lost to Wales at Euro 2016. Maybe some people were treated like superstars' Belgium star lifts the lid on loss to Wales at Euro 2016

Wales crashed out of their World Cup qualifier last month against Bosnia and Herzegovina, but it has not been all that painful for the Dragons over the past decade.

They made it to World Cup 2022 in Qatar, and got into the knockouts in Euro 2020, but their best-ever major tournament finish came just under 10 years ago, at Euro 2016 in France.

Remarkably, considering they entered the tournament as rank outsiders, they managed to book their place in the final four with an unlikely win over Belgium, who were near the summit of the FIFA rankings at the time.

Radja Nainggolan explains key factor in the infamous Wales loss

Belgium took the lead early in the first half through Radja Nainggolan, before their opponents equalised on the half-hour mark via Ashley Williams.

It was all square at half-time and, miraculously, it was the Dragons who were able to assert themselves on the game, first through Hal Robson-Kanu, before solidifying the victory courtesy of Sam Vokes.

It was a strong Wales side, featuring the likes of Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey, but it was no match for some of the names Belgium boasted.

This was still the early days of the Red Devils’ supposed golden generation, with glitzy names like Eden Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku and Thibaut Courtois all starting that day.

It was that star power, however, that may have been Belgium’s undoing, according to goalscorer Nainggolan.

“I still don’t know how we ended up losing that match,” the midfielder tells FourFourTwo now, looking back on the episode with dismay.

“All I can tell you is that, probably, we weren’t a particularly tight-knit team.”

That disconnect, the former Roma man feels, was borne out of the way certain players were treated, with the suggestion being that the high-profile names were afforded more attention.

“Maybe the coach [Marc Wilmots] should have developed more cohesion between the players,” Nainggolan continued.

“It felt as though he was somehow obliged to give superstar status to Eden Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku, which created an imbalance in how the squad members were treated.”

Bale is a name that looks comfortable among that trio, yet there was never a sense that his status caused friction in the Wales camp – perhaps there was a lesson there for Belgium that day.