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The returns of Antonio Rudiger and Radja Nainggolan to their respective national teams is a fine reward for the work they have done to prove their fitness and form at club level.
To start with Rudiger, and it was heartening to see him reinstated in Joachim Low's Germany squad for the first time since the devastating ACL injury that so cruelly occurred on the eve of Euro 2016..
"It was truly difficult to recover from the ruptured anterior cruciate ligament, but now I am happy with my physical fitness,” he recently told reporters in Germany. “Above all, it was tough to watch my teammates step onto the field while I had to work for hours and hours in the gym."
Rudiger has made tremendous strides since making his comeback from injury, and his development is going beautifully under Luciano Spalletti's expert tutelage. His positional awareness and tactical acuity has improved dramatically at the Giallorossi this term, which has seen the strong, athletic defender undoubtedly cement his reputation as one of Serie A's finest defenders.
"Here in Italy tactics are everything,” Rudiger added. “At Trigoria we spend up to an hour and a half analysing video footage and on the field spent over an hour studying tactics.”
The 24-year-old stopper, who's shown his capacity to play in many different roles in defence already this term, put in a solid showing in Germany's 1-0 win over England last week to mark his return in style.
The case of Radja Nainggolan and Belgium is certainly a fascinating one, albeit for a very different reason than Rudiger. Having been omitted from Roberto Martinez's first squad in curious circumstances, after a temporary hiatus Nainggolan’s form ensured a deserved recall for the Red Devils' latest round of fixtures.
“I was disappointed not to be called-up after a good European Championships. I'm someone who bluntly says what he feels, so I never made a secret of my disappointment,” Nainggolan said this week.
“The coach must have had his reasons not to call me, but now I'm looking forward."
With the situation appearing sorted for now, the aggressive, supremely well-rounded midfielder even started and played the full 90 minutes in both of Belgium's games against Greece and Russia over the international break.
After international setbacks for differing reasons, the last two weeks saw both Rudiger and Nainggolan re-establish themselves at international level. With just over 12 months to go until the World Cup in Russia, both will hope it is just the start of their journey with their respective nations.
Imperium Partners
Centurion Partners
