Article by Daniel Grigore – Published Friday, October 31, 2025, 11:41 / Updated Friday, October 31, 2025 11:41
Radja Nainggolan, 37, former Belgium international, had no mercy on Roberto Martinez, his former national team coach, now Portugal coach.
Legitimate in the past at Cagliari, Inter and AS Roma, currently at Lokeren-Temse, in the second league of Belgium, Radja Nainggolan played 30 times for the Belgian senior national team.
He participated in Euro 2016, playing in all of Belgium's matches at that final tournament, but the appointment of Roberto Martinez as coach coincided with the end of his international career.
7 and a half years after he last represented his country, Nainggolan was the author of some very harsh statements about Roberto Martinez, employed in the meantime at the helm of the Portugal national team.
Radja Nainggolan destroys Roberto Martinez: “Very weak coach, he doesn't know football!”
“I had too little impact compared to what I could have given. I know that, I'm honest, but it wasn't my choice. Wilmots changed his mind and took me to the European Championship, where I was one of the good players, but then Martinez took me out of the team for no reason.
His explanations were crap that will always be crap. In my opinion, he does not know football, he is a very poor coach. There are some who say he is a good coach. In my opinion, those people don't know football!
For me, a good coach is someone who gives the team an idea of the game. With Martinez, Belgium never had one! It was just about individual quality. If we were in trouble, we gave the ball to Hazard: “Take care of yourself”. Or to De Bruyne: «Think about what to do». Or Lukaku. But I never had a style of play! No business! It is the pure truth.
But I'm not saying he's not a good coach because I haven't played. I'm not like that, I'm not a hater and I'm not envious of other people's success. I played under many coaches and i can say it's disastrous! We did whatever came into our heads, because we didn't know what we should do.
We didn't have routes, we didn't have automations. We only had individual quality, a Mertens who could decide the match, a Chadli who could decide the match, a De Bruyne corner that Fellaini headed in, that was our style of play“, said Nainggolan in dialogue with the vlogger Junior Vertongen.
Robert Martinez
“Today, I would 100% choose Indonesia”
In the clip filmed in the car, on a walk, Nainggolan did not shy away from admitting a personal regret, the fact that he did not choose the Indonesian national team. He could have represented her, his father being Indonesian.
“Today I would choose the Indonesian national team. I have nothing against Belgium, I played at all age groups in the juniors, but I was taken out of the scheme by Roberto Martinez. For no reason! If you see how much I am respected in Indonesia, I would 100% choose Indonesia now,” said the midfielder.
His conclusion? “If they had invested in a good coach, I think Belgium could have won some trophies!”
The best result of the Belgian golden generation remains 3rd place at the 2018 World Championship.
This year, Roberto Martinez won his first trophy in his coaching career, the League of Nations with the Portuguese national team.
