Anwar Ibrahim (Cairo)
The Belgian veteran star, Raja Nainggolan, 36 years old, revealed the most important reasons for the failure of the golden generation of the Belgian “Red Devils” team to win any championship, which is “the abundance of stars” and the desire of each one of them to be number one for reasons related to stardom and “high ego.”
Nainggolan, who spent most of his football career in Italy, is used to being frank and not “beating around the bush”, which is why his interview on the Italian platform “Gorolondia” was characterised by frankness and transparency. He said: I think what is happening to the Belgian national team is very similar to what happened in Paris Saint-Germain when the trio “Messi, Neymar, Mbappe” were together in the team.
He added: Our national team included Hazard, Lukaku, De Bruyne, Courtois and others, and when you put all these stars in one team, each of them must consider himself the “leader” and the “hero of the story”, the first star and the most important player, which makes things not go well, but rather raises problems and continuous disputes, which makes the technical manager, whoever he is, fail in managing and taming these stars.
“Belgium reached the quarter-finals in the 2014 World Cup and came close to winning the 2018 World Cup, but were eliminated in the semi-finals by France (1-0). In Euro 2016, things were worse because the Red Devils did not go beyond the quarter-finals, being eliminated by Wales. In Euro 2012, they were eliminated by Italy,” Nainggolan, who was part of that golden generation of stars, continued.
While most of the Belgian national team stars are still playing with their clubs in the world leagues and are being called up to the national team, Nainggolan has not had this honour since March 2018.
The Belgian national team was eliminated from the group stage of the 2022 World Cup, and the “Red Devils” stopped advancing in “Euro 2024” in Germany and were eliminated from the round of 16 at the hands of the French “Roosters” 1-0, which is the same result as the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup.
Born on May 4, 1988, Raja Nainggolan spent most of his professional career in Italy, where he played for Piacenza, Cagliari, Roma and Inter Milan, and made 290 appearances in the “Calcio” with the clubs he played for.
Nainggolan represented his country for 8 years since 2009, participating in 30 international matches and scoring 6 goals. He also participated with the national team in the 2016 European Championship, and was selected for the list of the national team participating in the 2014 World Cup, but was excluded from the final list, and was forced to retire from international play before the 2018 World Cup in Russia, after he was not selected for the list of the national team participating in this tournament.
Nainggolan played for the under-16, under-19, under-20 and under-21 national teams, and joined the first team from 2009 to 2018.
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