Inter as the Standard in Serie A: Nainggolan's Insights

Radja Nainggolan has no doubts about who sets the standard in Serie A right now. Inter, he says, are the team everyone else is chasing.

Speaking to La Gazzetta dello Sport ahead of Roma’s showdown with the champions at the Stadio Olimpico, the former Inter and Roma midfielder underlined the gap he sees at the top.

“Inter today are a well-built team, they have reached two Champions League finals and have important reserves,” Nainggolan said. “The Scudetto that Napoli won two seasons ago was lost by Inter, in my opinion. Today they have no rivals, but respecting your opponent does not mean not attacking.”

That is the backdrop as Gian Piero Gasperini’s Roma prepare for what Nainggolan calls the ultimate exam of their progress. Inter arrive as the benchmark. Roma, in his eyes, arrive as the side trying to prove they belong in that company.

Inter the benchmark, Roma on trial

Nainggolan pointed straight at Inter’s depth and European pedigree as the reasons they sit a level above.

The presence of Cristian Chivu on the bench and a squad hardened by two Champions League finals gives Inter, he believes, a structure and mentality that few in Italy can match. Roma’s task, then, is to show they can live with that intensity over 90 minutes, not just in flashes.

For Nainggolan, this game is not just another big night at the Olimpico. It is a measuring stick for Gasperini’s project.

Svilar steady, Martinez under the spotlight

The pressure points, he argues, lie at the back.

Nainggolan singled out the goalkeepers as potential game-changers. On one side, Mile Svilar, whose rise last season has carried into this campaign. On the other, Josep Martinez, still feeling the weight of the shirt in his first year as Inter’s starting keeper and coming off some high-profile mistakes.

“Svilar did very well last year and is confirming it, while Martinez is in his first year as a starter and you feel the pressure,” Nainggolan noted.

In a match where margins are thin and one lapse can decide everything, that contrast in form and experience could tilt the balance.

Dybala as Roma’s ace

Then comes the man Nainggolan sees as Roma’s trump card: Paulo Dybala.

“Dybala can make the difference in these games, he is a fantastic player,” he said.

For all the tactical detail and structure, Nainggolan believes a player with Dybala’s vision and left foot can rip open even a defence as organised as Inter’s. Roma’s hopes of upsetting the league leaders may well rest on the Argentine finding pockets of space and punishing the slightest mistake.

No risks at the back

Nainggolan’s focus, though, kept circling back to Roma’s defensive choices, especially around how to handle Lautaro Martinez.

He urged Gasperini to think stability first when selecting the central defender tasked with tracking Inter’s captain, warning against rolling the dice with less proven options in a game of this magnitude.

“Ndicka or Balerdi? All of Roma's defenders are performing, but for a game like this and against such a strong opponent, playing Balerdi can be risky,” he explained. “I would play with those who are most stable.”

In other words: this is not the night for experiments. Not against Lautaro, not against this Inter.

Mancini’s runs and Roma’s evolution

Nainggolan did not just dwell on caution. He also praised the way Roma have grown under Gasperini, especially in how they use their defenders.

He highlighted Gianluca Mancini’s forward surges as a key attacking weapon, a sign of a side that no longer simply sits deep and reacts but tries to impose itself in phases of the game. Those runs, if timed right, could help Roma unsettle Inter’s structure and drag their back line into uncomfortable areas.

The admiration for Gasperini’s attacking ideas ran deep enough that Nainggolan admitted he would have enjoyed playing in this Roma, particularly alongside Donyell Malen, whose movement and directness fit the kind of high-tempo football he always thrived in.

A bond with Roma that never faded

Beneath the tactical analysis, there is still the emotional pull.

Nainggolan’s connection to Roma remains raw. He recalled how, in his view, lies from club officials pushed him out in 2018 and led to his move to Inter, despite having previously turned down big-money offers from Chelsea and China to stay in the capital.

That history colours how he watches fixtures like this. The shirt is no longer his, but the attachment has not gone away. Roma’s big nights still matter to him.

And this one, he believes, could be huge.

Inter arrive as champions, as the “team to beat”, as the side Nainggolan insists have “no rivals” right now. Roma arrive chasing their own ceiling, trying to smash through the limits that have held them back in recent seasons.

The stage is set at the Olimpico. If Roma really have changed, this is the night to prove it.