Radja Nainggolan finds balance among Serie A’s most influential players

Radja Nainggolan makes no secret of his vices. He likes to smoke, to stay out late and to dance. When Rolling Stone magazine asked him whether he considered himself a “discotheque footballer” in late 2015, he replied with an unapologetic “yes”, before adding: “I have no desire to stay home every evening like other players who just go ‘house, football pitch, house, football pitch’.”

That mindset has not always endeared him to coaches. Marc Wilmots, after leaving Nainggolan out of Belgium’s 2014 World Cup squad, eventually came to recognise the player’s talent and subsequently made sure that the player’s hotel rooms always had a balcony to smoke on. But he still let his feelings be known when he lamented that: “It will be [Nainggolan’s] problem if he only plays to 30 years old instead of 35.”

Luciano Spalletti has taken a different tack. When footage emerged earlier this month of Nainggolan venting his hatred of Juventus, and lighting up a cigarette, outside a bar late at night, the Roma manager refused to condemn his behaviour - instead turning his ire on the “fake supporters” who had filmed the scene surreptitiously on a mobile phone.

“Radja probably finds his balance by always going hard,” said Spalletti. “A person can find balance by doing a little bit of this, a little bit of the other thing, eating only a little, drinking a little, giving out few kisses. [Nainggolan], on the other hand, eats a lot, he runs a lot, he gives out a lot of kisses and he does a lot of everything. That’s how he finds his balance. But the balance is still always there.”

Nainggolan has definitely been going hard on the pitch for Roma lately. His form to start this season was patchy, but over the last four months he has been quite possibly the most influential player in Serie A. Repurposed by Spalletti from defensive midfielder into a rampaging No10, the Belgian has done more than any team-mate to keep the Giallorossi snapping at Juventus’s heels.

He scored his first goal of this Serie A season in a win over Sassuolo at the end of October. Then came another in a 2-0 win over Lazio, followed by a winner against Milan one week later. After Mohamed Salah disappeared to the Africa Cup of Nations in January, Nainggolan kept his team on track in both domestic competitions with strikes against Udinese and Sampdoria.

The goals keep on coming. Heading into Sunday night’s showdown against Inter, Nainggolan had scored in three consecutive games. He would require just 12 minutes at San Siro to make it four in a row.

This had been billed as a key moment in both teams’ seasons. Inter, after a superb run of form under Stefano Pioli, had a chance to insert themselves into the race for Champions League places. Victory would have pulled them to within five points of Roma, and three of third-placed Napoli. The Giallorossi, though, needed to sustain their own winning run to stay in touch with first-placed Juventus.

Nainggolan set them on the path to doing so with a goal that showcased his quality. Taking a pass from Edin Dzeko near the left sideline, he was closely tracked by Roberto Gagliardini and yet found space to shift inside and sprint away before whipping a superb finish into the far top corner.

It was an astonishing goal, and one that set a tone. Spalletti has lately been deploying Roma in a 3-4-2-1, with Nainggolan as one of the two trequartisti playing off Dzeko’s shoulders. Inter sought to match that formation on Sunday, with Gagliardini operating at times as a man-marker to the Belgian.

The logic was easy to follow. A tall and broad-shouldered 22-year-old, Gagliardini had – at least in theory – the strength and the energy to stick with Roma’s most dynamic player. What he did not have, though, was Nainggolan’s speed of thought. Nor the Roma player’s sense of when to push his luck.

It was hard to tell exactly how much force Nainggolan applied with the hand that he placed on Gagliardini’s shoulder as they waited beneath a half-cleared ball outside the Roma penalty area early in the second half. Certainly, many referees would have judged it a foul. Nainggolan made no effort to win the header, instead guiding his opponent out of position and waiting for the ball to come down.

No free-kick was awarded and, as Gagliardini protested, the Roma player sprinted away. He went 50 yards unchallenged before drilling a violent shot beyond Samir Handanovic from the edge of the D. The ball had travelled, according to the camera operators at Italy’s Sky Sport, at just a shade under 100 kilometres per hour (62mph).

At 2-0, the game was not yet over. Inter ought to have had a penalty in the 72nd minute, when Kevin Strootman kicked Eder’s heel. They then grabbed a goal back anyway, through Mauro Icardi. But hopes of a comeback were dashed when Gary Medel slid late into a challenge on Edin Dzeko in the opposite penalty area. Diego Perotti stepped up to convert the spot-kick and restore Roma’s two-goal advantage.

Inter, to their credit, did not linger afterwards on the decisions that went against them. Pioli said his team had been naïve in key moments, while Gagliardini responded to a question about Nainggolan’s apparent shove by saying: “I don’t think these are the incidents that cost us the match.”

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Both acknowledged that their team had been outperformed. If there is a negative to draw from Pioli’s time as manager of Inter thus far, it is that they have been second best in every match they have played against Serie A’s top three. Their resurgence rests on the fact that they have beaten everybody else they have faced (in the league, at least).

As for Roma, they might now be the only team with any hope of challenging Juventus for the Scudetto. They remain seven points behind the league leaders, but extended their advantage over Napoli – who suffered a surprising reverse at home to Atalanta. Roma will host the Partenopei next weekend at the Stadio Olimpico.

For now, they can toast a success that owed much to the brilliance of Nainggolan. Corriere della Sera defined him on Monday as a perfect blend of Francesco Totti and Gennaro Gattuso, although one doubts he would care much for the comparison.

In that same recent video where Nainggolan vented his hatred of Juventus, he was seen being told by one supporter that he could go on to emulate Roma’s iconic club captain. His response was scornful: “I don’t give a fuck about being like Totti.” All Radja Nainggolan really wants to do is enjoy life, smoke cigarettes and win football games.

Talking points

Also putting in a star turn this weekend was Atalanta’s 22-year-old centre-back Mattia Caldara, who scored both goals in their win over Napoli. The first was a header from a corner, but the second an improbably well-taken volley which arrived after his team had been reduced to 10 men. It speaks to the spirit of this Atalanta team that he was up there at all, charging forwards on the counter – something which Caldara explained afterwards by saying that their manager, Gian Piero Gasperini, has encouraged even defenders to believe they can contribute up front when the opportunity presents itself.

Caldara is certainly one of the talents to keep an eye on in Italy in the years ahead. Another product of the Atalanta youth system, he was signed by Juventus in January but immediately loaned back on a deal that will keep him in Bergamo until the summer of 2018. Although he is not exactly a kid at 22 years old, his youthfulness was highlighted when one interviewer asked him over the weekend whether he has been following the Bianconeri’s Champions League games on TV. “Of course,” he replied. “But I have to go out because my dad doesn’t have the right TV subscription.”

It is not inconceivable that he could be playing in the Champions League with Atalanta next season. The win moved Caldara’s team to within three points of Napoli – over whom they now hold the tie-breaker, having beaten them home and away.

Happy birthday to Gianluigi Donnarumma, who turned 18 on Saturday and was treated to a spectacular San Siro-themed birthday cake. He celebrated with a clean sheet in Milan’s 1-0 win over Sassuolo – although the winning goal ought not to have stood. Carlos Bacca slipped as he was taking the penalty, with the result that his right-footed shot wound up deflecting up off his left and over the dive of Andrea Consigli.

Whether Donnarumma will stay to enjoy many more birthdays at Milan is a question that is starting to trouble supporters. His agent, Mino Raiola, has refused to advance negotiations on a new contract until the new ownership is in place and he can gauge their ambition. When asked if Donnarumma deserved a “great Milan”, Raiola responded: “No, he deserves a great team. I’m not married to anyone – my job is not to be a fan for any one club.”

The Zdenek Zeman-led revival at Pescara didn’t last long. A week after beating Genoa 5-0, Serie A’s last-placed team were brought back to earth with a 2-0 defeat away to Chievo. “We don’t need a miracle,” said the manager afterwards. “We need to play football. Today we didn’t manage to do that.”

Juventus won their 30th consecutive home game in Serie A, beating Empoli 2-0. The Tuscans had actually done a decent job of digging in and holding their opponents at bay in the first half, and it was hard not to feel sorry for Lukasz Skorupski when the first goal went in, rebounding down off the bar and hitting him as he lay prone on the floor beneath it before sneaking over the line. But the technique shown by Alex Sandro for the second goal was another reminder of the depth of quality in this side.

Final thought for the week: has Antonio Rudiger been taking tips on shepherding the ball out of play from John Cleese?

Results: Juventus 2-0 Empoli, Napoli 0-2 Atalanta, Inter 1-3 Roma, Sassuolo 0-1 Milan, Lazio 1-0 Udinese, Palermo 1-1 Sampdoria, Chievo 2-0 Pescara, Crotone 1-2 Cagliari, Genoa 1-1 Bologna, Lazio 1-0 Udinese.