Robben was possibly football’s greatest partner, whoever played alongside him was forced to shine twice as bright, thanks to this, both Sneijder and Ribbery nearly managed to dethrone the great Messi and Ronaldo at the Ballon D’Or. But it didn’t mean he was helping his teammates in detriment of his own game, he was magical, a great showman. Bruce Lee once famously said "I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.
" and if someone ever took that quote and ran with it, it was Arjen Robben, few gestures have struck fear in the eyes of a goalkeeper as much as Robben cutting in and preparing his shot. He is a legend and so his story must be told. Enjoy.
It seemed Robben was born with a desire to play football… It is said that before he turned 3 years old, he had already asked his parents to join an academy. Though at first they were shocked by just how much of an early bloomer their son was, his parents were quick to act and made sure to get him into the best local academy as soon as possible, VV Bedum, a satellite club of Groningen. From there on out it was smooth sailing… At 12, Groningen moved him up to their own academy and by the age of 16 he was already debuting for their main team.
In fact, he earned that first match thanks to another player being out injured, it was meant to be a one time thing, a way to give this young talented kid a taste of what he’s been working for but the moment he stepped on the pitch he had everyone wondering why he wasn’t playing every match and so as much as they were reluctant to give such a young boy a prominent role in the squad, by the end of the season he had played the full 90 in 9 consecutive match days. It really seemed things couldn’t get much better for Robben at that point, but by December he had outshined all of his teammates so much that regardless of his age he would be named the club’s player of the year. With Gronningen on relegation form, it quickly became evident that Robben wouldn’t stay around for long and so through a 3.
9 million euro transfer, he moved away to PSV… it was time to fight for the title. After a month and a half at PSV, Robben had once again achieved the unimaginable and earned himself a place as a key player. By December, it would be Robben who would score the goal that would see PSV overtake Ibrahimovic’s Ajax to top the league table, before going on to score 10 goals and get 5 assists in 18 matches that greatly contributed to their success in one of the most unbelievable title races in history… Just picture this, PSV topped the table, with only 2 defeats all year and still Ajax were only 1 point below them, with 3 defeats.
And if you’re wondering who PSV had lost to, well both defeats came against Feyennord, who finished third, with only 3 points less than Ajax and only 4 defeats all year. Once that crazy season was over, the club’s player of the year award was to be handed to either Mateja Kezman who had scored 35 league goals or, of course, Arjen Robben, who together were nicknamed by the fans “Batman and Robin”. .
. but so much was the admiration for both players that they decided to simply give it to both. Similarly the league handed the best player award to Kezman, but gave the Most Talented Player Award to Robben, whatever that means….
Regardless it was impressive how he had taken nearly every award there was available to him, right from his debut season. In his second year at PSV, the team entered another title race with Ajax, but with 12 matches to go, Robben got injured, missing out pretty much all of what was left of the season and without him, PSV failed to retain their title. However this did not stop most of Europe’s top clubs from having a go at a possible transfer, in fact, even before the injury, the great Alex Ferguson had already made an attempt, Robben even flew to England to meet him, but once PSV realized he wasn’t gonna budge on the 7 million proposal, their chairman literally told Ferguson, 7 million couldn’t even buy Robben’s signed shirt.
Eventually, they were proven right, as Mourinho’s Chelsea swooped in and offered 18 million for the player, completely blowing other offers out of the water and securing his transfer. Owh and btw, they even went for the 2 for 1 special and brought Kezman alongside Robben for an extra 8 million. It looked like a great deal uh?
But before that, it was time for the Euro 2004, on his debut in Europe’s greatest tournament, Robben managed to pull off 2 assists in the opening 19 minutes, quickly cementing his place in the team though they would go out in the semi finals to hosts Portugal. At Chelsea, things started really poorly for Robben, right in the pre season, he picked up an injury that would have him out for a few months and before he even made it back on the pitch, he went through one of the biggest scares of his life, when he noticed abnormal growth in one of his testicles tho thankfully soon it was cleared of any suspicions of testicular cancer. Regardless, once he got back he immediately excelled, scoring in all of the first 4 matches of November, picking up 2 assists and going on to win the Player of the month award.
Over the rest of the year, he would average a goal or assist every 95 minutes and despite having to go through another tough injury, he would win the premier league and be shortlisted for the Young Player of the year award, losing out to Wayne rooney, who would also beat him to the golden boy award, where he would finish fourth. His second season was somewhat just more of the same, perhaps being just a bit less impressive with the highlight being of course Chelsea doubling down on their premier league title. His first world cup came over the summer and though he shined immensely being the man of the match in his first two matches by the third he had already been knocked out.
By 2007, he was still struggling severely with injuries, so much so that it would start to upset Mourinho, who would go on to say that at times he even forgot he was part of the squad. Considering this, when Real Madrid knocked on Chelsea’s door, believing they’d be able to bring him back to form, Chelsea were quick to say yes and so he moved to Spain for 35 million euros. After an impressively explosive start to his career, the now 23 year old had experienced a bit of down time, but now he had a chance to make a comeback.
And after a season of adaptation where he helped Real to a league title, while playing a deeper role in midfield alongside Wesley Sneijder, Robben began being deployed as a right winger in 2008 and hit some of his best form of the last few years, however, Real finished the season completely trophyless, which prompted one of the most impressive rebuilds of all time, with Ronaldo, Kaká, Benzema and Xabi Alonso all arriving in the same window and both Sneijder and Robben being shipped out. He didn’t even shy away from admitting that he didn’t wanna leave, that he was being forced to, but what he didn’t realize was that his next move would change his career forever. As some began believing that we had already seen the best years of Arjen Robben, for just 25 million euros, he became a Bayern Munich player.
Right on his first match, he came in at half time and got himself a brace. After just 10 appearances he established himself as a vital part of one of the greatest attacking formations of all time, containing the likes of Klose, Mario Gomez, Ribery, Schweinsteiger, and even Luca Toni. Together with Ribery he would go on to form one of the greatest ever duos in the sport, they were the mirrored image of each other, two wingers who desperately demanded the freedom to drift to the middle, just by themselves they were both incredibly overwhelming for the opposition and a million times worse when played together.
If most other great duos needed to nearly hold hands in order to flow together, Robbery had a much different connection, it was like a stare of acknowledgment of each other’s greatness, one that whispered “I know you’ll be there when I’m not”. As soon as Robben locked down his position in the starting eleven, he went on a mad run of 18 goals and 5 assists in 19 matches, including 2 goals against Fiorentina, one of them being the decisive away goal, as well as another away goal against Manchester United, which would once again deciding the match and then the only goal in the first leg against Lyon. Robben had been absolutely key in getting Bayern to the UCL final and along the way he had even managed to help them achieve the domestic double as well as being named the best player in the league… but in order to go from flop to a treble winner in less than a year he now needed to beat Inter Milan and of course, his eternal partner Welsey Sneijder.
However, with a great performance by Diego Milito, it wouldn’t be this year that he would achieve the mythical treble. Still, over summer he would experience one of the highest peaks of his career. If earlier Sneijder had been his executioner, now that was behind them and at the world cup they would be the duo to watch.
Unfortunately, after picking up an injury in the last friendly before the tournament, Robben would be forced to sit out the first two matches, however in the final group stage match he would be decisive, coming off the bench very late into the game to assist the winning goal. Then they beat Slovakia in the last 16 with a goal by Robben and another by Sneijder. In the quarter finals they faced Brazil, a tough match that got even tougher as they conceded within 10 minutes, however two goals by Sneijder, with the first being assisted by Robben were enough to send them to the semi finals where they beat Uruguay 3 to 2, with the decisive goal coming from no other than Arjen Robben yet again.
In the final, they faced the mighty Spanish National Team, stacked with talent and hungrier than ever, still they held them off for 117 minutes, finally conceding shortly after being reduced to 10 men, with Heitinga being the one to cost them the world cup trophy. Regardless, Robben’s performance’s had been the target of massive praise, everyone felt for him, knowing he had just lost the champions league and world cup finals in the same year. It only got more impressive, when upon arriving at Bayern it was verified that he had been playing the tournament through injury, so much so that Bayern would have him sit out the first half of the season and even try to sue the dutch national team, considering they had been reckless in allowing him to play.
This injury also severely impacted Robben’s Ballon D’Or positioning in a year where he could have been a serious contender for a place at the podium but ended up placing only 14th. After coming off of injury, he pulled off some unbelievable numbers … you gotta take a look at his stats, absolutely frightening stuff… 18 matches, 13 goals, 13 assists, despite not getting to play the full 90 in a fair amount of games… he literally averaged a goal or assist every 51 minutes for the rest of the league season, scoring or assisting in every league match except 2 and completely saving Bayern, who were placed 5th when he came back and somehow still managed to qualify for the Champions League. After a shocking 3 straight defeats at Euro 2012, Robben came back to Germany, only to experience yet another half season completely riddled with injuries, there was clearly a reason people called him the man of glass.
However, around march he picked up form once again, going on a run of 9 goals and 5 assists in 6 matches, and being highly influential in Bayern Champions League run, first putting up one of the greatest demolitions in Champions League history, destroying Basel 7 nil in the last 16, with Robben being involved in 3, before going on to score one goal and assist the other as they beat Marseille 2 nil and then scoring the away goal against Real that would lead them onto the penalty shootout that would open their path onto the final. Over the next few weeks, they ended up losing the bundesliga to Dortmund and then losing the cup to them as well, before arriving at the champions league final as the absolute favorites, only to get beaten by Chelsea and end up coming as runner ups in every competition available. It must have stung, however it definitely woke something inside Robben and honestly in every player in that Bayern squad because the following year….
they would take it above and beyond, so prepare for a massive dump of stats, let's go. Over the 10 months that comprised the 2012/2013 season, Robben played 31 matches, he won 29 of them, no draws, 2 defeats. 13 goals and 13 assists, one every 85 minutes.
In the league, Bayern had 91 points, 25 more than second place Dortmund. In the cup, completely unbeaten, 18 goals scored, 3 conceded, with 2 of them coming in the final. The supercup , they won it as well.
Then of course, the champions league, 1 single defeat to Arsenal, but then a 4 nil win to Juventus, a 7 nil win to Barcelona with Robben scoring two and in the final 2 to 1 win over Dort mund with Robben assisting the first and then scoring the winning goal in the final minute of the match. From then on, of course, no goals conceded in the club world cup, all wins there. And finally, the European supercup, they nearly crumbled to Chelsea once again, but on penalties they finished the job.
From May to December of 2013, 6 trophies won, because trebles are for babies, I guess. By the time the Ballon D’Or came around, of course Robben had managed to get himself injured and alongside that there was also the fact that Ribery, who always battle Sneijder for the title of Robben’s greatest partner, had outshined him in the eyes of many, however he managed an 8th place finish, the best in his career up to that point and being already 30 years old, there was not much hope that he would outdo that, especially with a trophy haul like that, however, right the following year he went on to produce an astonishing 21 goals and 17 assists, despite the fact that half the time he didn’t even play the full 90. In the Champions League, Robben was even more unbelievable, being the competition’s best assist provider and being involved in at least 2 goals against every team he faced up to the semi finals, except for Arsenal.
Who knows what he could have done, had Bayern not been absolutely demolished 5 nil by Real Madrid then. Still once again, they took both the cup and league titles domestically and Robben flew out to play the 2014 world cup, where he started incredibly with 3 goals and 1 assist over the group stage, before the Netherland’s pragmatic approach led them to go goalless in both the quarters and semi finals, losing to Argentina on penalties, despite Robben converting his own and earning a third place finish after beating a demoralized Brazil. Add to that a solid start to the next season, with 10 league goals before new year’s and against all odds 31 year old Robben had secured a 4th place finish in the Ballon D’Or, I just wish he had made the podium once, I think we all believe that he deserved it.
He then went on a streak of 16 goal contributions in 11 matches, but unfortunately as per usual an injury in early march cut his season short. This time, the streak of injuries would hit a whole new level, totalling 11 injuries in just 2016 and sending him into his worst run of form in a decade. Thankfully the following season, it slowed down and he managed to give the world one last world class season, with 16 goals and 14 assists, at the usual rate of one every 90 or so minutes (91), leading Bayern to their 5th Bundesliga title in a row, which would be followed by their 6th and 7th, as Robben went through 12 more injuries over those two final season, before finally deciding to say goodbye to the sport.
Except to the surprise of everyone, he made a comeback last season and played 7 matches for Groningen, but regardless, he is done for good now. They say all he could do was cut in and curl it into the top corner and though there is beauty in that, I hope that after these last 15 minutes you realized he was capable of much much more.
