Former Roma and Inter midfielder Radja Nainggolan is no stranger to controversy and being caught smoking on the Royal Antwerp bench is only the latest chapter in his dramatic tale.
The Belgian midfielder arrived in Italy in 2005, joining Piacenza as a 17-year-old. After spending five years with the club, he joined Cagliari, where he spent a positive four years. Nainggolan would go on to play for Roma and Inter before making a brief return to Cagliari, where his time in Italy came to an end in 2021. He signed a two-year deal with Royal Antwerp last summer.
Nainggolan has been thrust into controversy after he was caught smoking on the bench during the warm-up of Royal Antwerp’s away clash against Standard Liege, an act that has seen him relegated to the B team. Unfortunately for the Belgian, trouble has never been too far away.
1 – New Year’s Eve
During the 2017 New Year’s Eve celebrations, Nainggolan found himself in the limelight after broadcasting himself on Instagram live drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes and swearing profusely.
Nainggolan later apologised for the incident on Instagram, confessing that “last night I went too far, I saw it as a special night, where you can also overdo it a bit… I certainly did not intend to set a negative example. That’s why I feel I must apologise for my words and my behaviour.”
2 – A night at the casino
Back in 2018, Nainggolan had an unlucky evening at the Monte Carlo Casino in Monaco and had to pay hundreds of thousands of euros back in losses. Unfortunately for him, thieves stole and cloned some of his passbooks, which contained cheques written to cover losses at the casino.
At least €150,000 was reportedly taken by the thieves, but the Belgian midfielder avoiding having more valuable cheques cloned.
3 – Behind the wheel
In March 2017, Nainggolan had his driving license withdrawn due to drink driving. He had spent the evening at a nightclub in Brussels and was caught driving drunk by the police, who discovered his blood level alcohol was 2 milligrams per litre, four times the legal limit.
The Belgian midfielder was immediately prosecuted and had his license taken for a month. More recently, Nainggolan was reportedly arrested for driving drunk and using an expired license last week.