Radja Nainggolan: Antwerp man caught smoking on team bench - suspended by club | OneFootball

Royal Antwerp midfielder Radja Nainggolan has been slapped with an indefinite suspension by his club after being caught smoking on their bench before a match on Sunday.

The 34-year-old, capped 30 times for Belgium between 2009 and 2018, was filmed smoking an e-cigarette ahead of Antwerp’s 3-0 defeat at Standard Liege – and the footage has since gone viral on TikTok.

The former Inter Milan and Roma man has carried a ‘bad boy’ image for much of his career, admitting to France Football back in 2018 that he wasn’t the slightest bit concerned about his smoking habit as a professional footballer.

"I can tell you that I am just a normal person and not a bad boy as many people label me," he insisted, per Goal.

"I can drink and smoke a cigarette with serenity. Even a footballer can smoke, even if they do not have a 'normal' job."

The one place you probably shouldn't be smoking, though, is your team's bench in the build-up to an important league match.

However, that's exactly what Nainggolan chose to do, as you can see for yourself in the clip below which has been viewed more than 67,000 times to date on TikTok.

Video: Nainggolan caught casually smoking an e-cigarette on the Royal Antwerp bench before league match

Such an act would have been a crazy decision from Nainggolan under any circumstances, but it's even more baffling when you consider that he was in trouble with the law just days earlier.

Per the Daily Mail, it was only last week that the player was arrested by Belgian police for driving without a valid licence, after his previous documentation had expired.

Antwerp lose patience with Nainggolan

After publicly bringing the club into disrepute on two separate occasions in a matter of days, Antwerp came down hard on Nainggolan.

"Clear agreements have been made about what our club does and does not expect from the player, " wrote the Belgian Pro League outfit in their statement confirming the player's indefinite suspension.

on his Instagram story, but insisted that the club's stance was "too severe".

Premier League quiz: Can you name these 40 players from the 2010s?

1 of 40

We'll start easy...

Michu Chico Flores

"The club has made a decision I can only accept, even though I think it might be a bit too severe for me. But I will try to contribute in one way or another," he vowed.

While the player's conduct can't be excused, he did play a full 45 minutes for minutes for Antwerp following the smoking incident after being introduced at half-time.

However, given his reputation and recent legal issues, you do have to question what Nainggolan was thinking here.