Roma midfielder Radja Nainggolan: Two World Cup snubs just laughable

Posted Wednesday, May 23, 2018 by Tribalfootball.com

Roma midfielder Radja Nainggolan is adamant he deserved to be in Belgium's World Cup squad.

Nainggolan has announced his international retirement after the snub.

"I've had enough, my goodbye to the Red Devils is now signed," Nainggolan told HLN.

"I won't continue to fight, I had already planned to stop if they didn't let me go to the World Cup.

"It's true that I considered making myself unavailable for Belgium over the last year but I still hoped I could participate in the World Cup.

"It was a childhood dream and I deserved it, but it's been taken away from me.

"My agent did not even know that I would announce my goodbye to Belgium, I just wrote what I thought, briefly and without thinking for hours.

"It came straight from the heart. I do not like wearing a mask, I'm who I am, if some people don't like that I can't do anything about it.

"I won't change for them, I'm tired of always being portrayed as a bad boy. Football is still a hobby for me.

"Ok it's become my job, but I still want to be judged for my performances, not what I do off the pitch. Would we talk differently about [Diego] Maradona for that reason? Everyone is free to do what he wants if he plays well on the pitch.

"Do you think all the players are good guys? I'm not ashamed.

"To be the only player who has not been allowed to go to the World Cup twice in a row, it's such an incomprehensible thing that I can already laugh about it."