Arjen Robben is back - as captain

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36 years and a lot of passion for football: Arjen Robben

Arjen Robben endured a year without football. Now the 36-year-old Dutchman has played as an active professional for the first time since his retirement in 2019: Robben led FC Groningen onto the field as captain in the 1-1 test match against Almere City FC. His ex-club, Bayern Munich, had wished Robben good luck on Twitter before the game kicked off.

After 31 minutes, Robben's comeback was over. The brief assignment was planned: The first attempt to return had failed a good week ago because Robben had trained too hard beforehand. Before a test against PEC Zwolle, Robben had "exceeded the limits in his training program", explained Groningen trainer Danny Buijs.

Accordingly, Buijs now dosed the risk of his professional, who in his younger years was considered a gifted footballer, but also extremely prone to injury. "I'm glad I got back on the lawn," said Roben after his return.

Again in front of spectators from September

The new season in the Dutch Eredivisie begins on September 12th, and Groningen will kick off the league on September 13th. Then it's at home against PSV Eindhoven - Robben's second ex-club in the Netherlands, for which he was active between 2002 and 2004.

The games should be allowed to take place in front of spectators despite the corona pandemic, the Dutch government had only arranged a safety distance of one and a half meters between the fans and a ban on chants. In addition, only fans of the home team are allowed in the stadiums.

Robben, who comes from the neighboring village of Bedum, switched to FC Groningen as a youth player in 1996 and celebrated his breakthrough in professional football there in the 2001/2002 season. After stints in Eindhoven, Chelsea and Real Madrid, Robben signed with Bayern Munich in 2009. There the right winger played a key role as a top performer in eight championships, five DFB Cup victories and winning the Champions League in 2013, when Robben scored the winning goal in the final to make it 2-1 over Borussia Dortmund.

cev / dpa