In Focus: Nainggolan's courage shows way forward

Porto won, Roma didn't. That's football. You win, you lose, you draw.

It's not a case of putting a brave face on things. Them's the rules, even though it hurts. We lost this time and, for a year at least, the Champions League won't be rolling into town.

But today we go again. We have to pick ourselves up because 'there's always next year'. And this season has only just begun.

Today's date reads 23 August, the league season has just begun and Roma started with a 4-0 win. Cagliari will provide a very stern examination on Sunday. Ah yes, Cagliari. A side that was home for many years to Radja Nainggolan. Technically, the Belgian is a midfielder but he was simply everywhere against Porto.

Midfielder, defender, forward, everything. He really gave his all.

Just like a few other players, he made it through to full-time. Nainggolan was the epitome of a brave, battling - but ultimately defeated - side. He ran about the place time and again, he tried his luck at goal - the first shot of the match came from his boot with the scoreline goalless and both teams boasting the full complement.

Then Roma conceded, lost two players and saw their hopes of making the group stage vanish into thin air. Yet the No. 4 kept on going as if nothing had happened.

At one stage, with the game dead and buried, Nainggolan went on yet another lung-bursting run, causing more problems for Porto. "We gave our heart and soul out there," he said post-match. The crowd realised that and chanted his name in familiar fashion: "Oh lay lay, oh la la, Radja Nainggolan, Radja Nainggolan."

All this must not seem like an excuse. It's not. It can't be. However, the season is not over. It's simply not begun as we would have liked. More from Radja: "Now we have to keep going, our targets are Serie A and the Europa League."

That is the right thing to do: move on.

Even as hope faded on Tuesday, Nainggolan was showing us how to do so.