Inter suspends Nainggolan 'for disciplinary reasons'
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E-mail SHINE, December 24, 2018
Inter Milan has banned midfielder Radja Nainggolan "for disciplinary reasons".
In a brief statement on Sunday, Inter said it "can confirm Nainggolan has been temporarily suspended from football activity".
The club has not disclosed precise reasons, or the length of the ban, but according to Italian media reports he turned up late for training on Sunday morning, and had also done so several times last week.
Nainggolan was fined and dropped from his previous club AS Roma's squad for a match in January after a series of drunken, live Instagram postings on New Year's Eve.
The 30-year-old Belgian joined Inter in the offseason in a deal which valued him at 38 million euros (US$44.3 million).
Nainggolan has struggled with an ankle injury this month but played more than an hour of Saturday's 1-1 draw at Chievo Verona.
The suspension means he will miss Wednesday's showdown against Napoli as well as the game against Empoli on December 29 — the last two matches before the winter break. Inter is third in Serie A, eight points behind Napoli and 16 adrift of leader Juventus.
Since his arrival from Roma in the summer, Nainggolan has experienced a difficult start to the season, punctuated by minor injuries.
He made the front page of the Italian sports press earlier in the week as the alleged victim in a fraud case.
On Saturday, Mario Mandzukic scored the only goal for Juventus to dump further hurt on crisis club Roma and keep the champion unbeaten and on track for an eighth straight Italian league title.
The Croatian World Cup runner-up headed in the winner 34 minutes into the match in Turin to put Juventus back eight points clear of Napoli.
The defeat could have been harsher but for Roma goalkeeper Robin Olsen denying Cristiano Ronaldo, with Douglas Costa having a late goal ruled out following a video assistant referee check because of a foul in the build-up.
"We are doing good things, we have reached the Champions League last sixteen and we're winter champions," said coach Massimiliano Allegri, referring to the name given to teams top before Christmas.
"We haven't won anything yet," added Allegri. "The important thing is to be a few points ahead of Napoli on the 29th of December."
Juve — which has only dropped points against Genoa — travels to Atalanta and host Sampdoria in its final two matches before the end of the year.
Roma, after finishing third last season, is now 25 points behind Juventus and drops to 10th after its eighth defeat in as many trips to the Allianz Stadium. It has won just twice in the league since the end of September.
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