“The most important thing is to stay down to earth and keep concentrating on the next game.”
― Arjen Robben
“Players come and go, and that goes for coaches as well.”
― Arjen Robben
“I never had problems with injuries as a kid or in the youth team. My injuries started at Chelsea, when I broke my foot during a pre-season game. That was just pure bad luck, but after that, I had some muscular injuries, too, so I had to get to know my body better.”
― Arjen Robben
“You have to surprise opponents, keep them guessing. Doing the same thing over and over again without variation will not work.”
― Arjen Robben
“The most important thing for me is to feel that young players want to learn on the training pitch. If they spend 10 hours sitting around playing PlayStation, that’s their business.”
― Arjen Robben
“The Champions League is very difficult – there are so many big teams in Europe, and one bad day, and you can be out.”
― Arjen Robben
“The history of football has always thrown up big surprises.”
― Arjen Robben
“Selfishness is a quality and not necessarily a bad thing.”
― Arjen Robben
“The best and most important step of my career was when I moved here – and Louis van Gaal brought me from Madrid to Bayern. It was the best move of my career, and it’s thanks to him.”
― Arjen Robben
“Every league has its own culture, its own identity, and its own type of football. It’s very physical in England, but technical skill comes to the fore in Spain, where everybody wants to play beautiful football. The standards are very high in Germany, too; the teams are physically strong, very disciplined, and very well organised.”
― Arjen Robben
“It’s really amazing what Pep Guardiola has done at Man City.”
― Arjen Robben
“The appreciation between Bayern and I has always been there, from both sides. I know what I have at this club, and I always say that.”
― Arjen Robben
“I want to try to have fun as long as I can and play football at a high level. I do not know how long that will go on.”
― Arjen Robben
“Munich is a great city. I have lived in many cities in Europe, but I have never felt this comfortable, and my wife and children love it as well.”
― Arjen Robben
“A backheel is good if it works, not if it disrespects the opponents.”
― Arjen Robben
“We have to respect the opponents.”
― Arjen Robben
“It is important that it – sometimes there are clashes between team-mates. We need each other to tell the truth, and this is not always a positive.”
― Arjen Robben
“I’ve been playing football for a while, but Guardiola really made me a better player. I was 29 when I started working with him, so I wasn’t very young, but if you see the steps I made thanks to him, it shows you what he is capable of doing. Guardiola didn’t just put me on the flanks but in other positions as well.”
― Arjen Robben
“What I will miss the most about Guardiola? His obsession with the game and his knowledge, which makes you a better football player.”
― Arjen Robben
“If you want to achieve something and have results and win competitions at a high level, you have to defend as a team.”
― Arjen Robben
“I think I had a positive development at Chelsea. I was very young when I arrived, only 20, and the problem I had was injuries.”
― Arjen Robben
“I’m a very explosive player and need everything to be right. I started working with an osteopath the last year I was in Madrid and have stayed with him.”
― Arjen Robben
“The football in Spain is more about skill and technique. Every team tries to play good football. The physical side, with plenty of running and hard tackling, plays more of a role in the Bundesliga.”
― Arjen Robben
“I had some very good years at Madrid.”
― Arjen Robben
“Messi is in a different world. He is the best player in world football, without any doubt.”
― Arjen Robben
“Van Gaal is the best coach I’ve had. We’ve got a very special relationship.”
― Arjen Robben
“If you’re at school, children who play football, you give everything to win… If you don’t succeed, that’s a huge disappointment. Then it’s okay to be sad, but better times are coming.”
― Arjen Robben
“Only being able to watch is the hardest thing for any footballer.”
― Arjen Robben
“Playing United is the sort of thing that really gets the best out of me.”
― Arjen Robben
“I always want to play. It is important to gain match rhythm.”
― Arjen Robben
“There’s always so much to improve, no matter your age.”
― Arjen Robben
“If Mourinho loses 4-1, he doesn’t sleep well.”
― Arjen Robben
“I have lots of energy, but that doesn’t happen like magic. I put in many extra hours in the gym and with the physios.”
― Arjen Robben
“I have always said that I do not want to play in the Europa League.”
― Arjen Robben
“Bayern Munich are a team that absolutely have to play in the Champions League.”
― Arjen Robben
“Even during a sprint, I can occasionally still accelerate. I am so fit that I can accelerate during a acceleration, like making a new start.”
― Arjen Robben
“I’m always a realist, and I know the world of football is fast-moving.”
― Arjen Robben
“After my debut as a pro for Groningen, I was at Eindhoven for two years.”
― Arjen Robben
“It was a big step for me in the Netherlands: to leave home at the age of 18.”
― Arjen Robben
“I went abroad when I was 20, three years at Chelsea, a big club. Then two years at Madrid.”
― Arjen Robben
“The older you get, the better you get to know you body.”
― Arjen Robben
“I want the good players of other clubs to stay in the Bundesliga.”
― Arjen Robben
“Since I’ve been at Bayern, I have seen the Bundesliga grow.”
― Arjen Robben
“The kind of money English clubs have available to spend is unbelievable. They buy everything they can.”
― Arjen Robben
“When we are in possession, tactically, he is the best coach in the world for me. He works hard, watches a lot of games, and prepares us really well. Guardiola has the feeling for gaping spaces, and he already had that as a player.”
― Arjen Robben
“If you never pass or dribble or go on the outside, cutting inside will stop working.”
― Arjen Robben
“Every new coach is interesting.”
― Arjen Robben
“If I ever spat at an opponent, I’d never be able to show my face to my family ever again.”
― Arjen Robben
“When I’m fully fit, I have power and pace; then I feel good on the pitch.”
― Arjen Robben
“I’ve achieved everything in my career that I set out to – with the Champions League as the crowning glory.”
― Arjen Robben
“As a team, you always need to show something extra in the Champions League.”
― Arjen Robben
“Every manager has a certain influence, and it depends whether you’re 18, 25, or 30. You need different things.”
― Arjen Robben
“You need to be very critical of yourself. There are a few very good managers who can make players better individually. Most managers think about the team process – and so you have to improve things on your own.”
― Arjen Robben
“The best thing about football, and sport in general, is that if you suffer a big disappointment, then there is no better feeling than coming back the following year and doing well.”
― Arjen Robben
“A break in the middle of the season is good for everybody.”
― Arjen Robben
“Attackers have to be selfish on the pitch occasionally, but it’s important not to exaggerate.”
― Arjen Robben
“Forwards do a lot of things intuitively.”
― Arjen Robben
“Bayern had no international success in the years before I joined, and my goal was actually to play at the best possible level, which would have meant winning the Champions League.”
― Arjen Robben
“Always, if you win prizes and are successful, of course expectations are higher, at Bayern especially.”
― Arjen Robben
“I think that in each stage of your career, you need certain things to improve your game and to develop your style of play.”
― Arjen Robben
“In my period at Chelsea, I was sometimes the one who switched sides because we were playing with two left-footed guys on the wings with myself and Damian Duff.”
― Arjen Robben
“Statistically, I’ve done my best work at FC Bayern. I just feel really good here.”
― Arjen Robben
“People don’t understand how hard it is to be injured, not to be part of the team but to watch from the side.”
― Arjen Robben
“Football is my life, but my family’s health is the most important thing in the world.”
― Arjen Robben
“Football players have a great life, but we’re only human.”
― Arjen Robben
“You want to win all games, which means you want to win all cups and all prizes.”
― Arjen Robben
“I don’t know if referees look at me differently; you’d have to ask them. I hope everybody gets treated the same, but I know that it doesn’t always happen.”
― Arjen Robben
“Some referees have to think about treating every player the same, even if it’s Ronaldinho or another player from a Premiership club. It doesn’t matter how good you are: you have to be treated the same.”
― Arjen Robben
“I had injuries, but I didn’t get them on purpose.”
― Arjen Robben
“I will always be the first to admit when I have done something wrong.”
― Arjen Robben
“I am not a daydreamer.”
― Arjen Robben
“I do not understand players going to China at the age of 27 or 28. Those guys are at the peak of their career. That is a waste, really. You only get one career. I sort of understand players who are already in their 30s.”
― Arjen Robben
“When I came to PSV, I signed when Eric Gerets was coach there.”
― Arjen Robben
“In a top team, you always have very big competition between players, and for me, that’s not a problem at all.”
― Arjen Robben
“Losing drives me mad. It hurts.”
― Arjen Robben
“I’m not a diver. I know that.”
― Arjen Robben
“When I came to Chelsea and worked with Mourinho, it was my first time abroad, so that was an important stage for me.”
― Arjen Robben
“When I met Mourinho, I was still very young, but mentally and tactically, he worked on me. He was really demanding: you could not take a step below your level.”
― Arjen Robben
“Mourinho was always very strong for his players, and you needed to deliver for him. For me, it was good.”
― Arjen Robben
“Van Gaal is the kind of guy who can really make individual players better.”
― Arjen Robben
“Every game is a new battle.”
― Arjen Robben
“I just know that I love football,and when I’m on the pitch, I want to win.”
― Arjen Robben
“Maybe sometimes you are punished for honesty, but I always prefer to be honest.”
― Arjen Robben
“I guess my earliest football memories are of playing in the street and also the little pitches at school. I joined the local football team in my village when I was small, but we would play only once or twice a week. I honed my skills just by playing for fun with friends after school.”
― Arjen Robben
“In my youth-team days, I was always a left-winger who would stay close to the byline and put crosses in the box, so I could never cut inside and shoot. It was only when I joined Real Madrid and started playing in a more central position, and then on the right wing, that I suddenly realised I had a really dangerous weapon.”
― Arjen Robben
“I enjoy working with the younger players and helping them to develop.”
― Arjen Robben
“David Alaba has a very good left foot. He’s scored some good goals and free kicks.”
― Arjen Robben
“If you want to play dominant football, you need to get the ball, think fast, and play quick combinations in small spaces.”
― Arjen Robben
“If you play at a world-class team like Chelsea, you have to perform every day.”
― Arjen Robben
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