i think both were among the best in their position throughout their careers, no idea why either Madrid or Chelsea let Robben go. also dont know why it took Bilal so long to
explode, seeing the talent he has.
its an unpopular opinion, but i think Robben should have been Balon dor in 2010. most people say Sneijder, but his influence on inter wasnt as big as Robbens on Bayern that calendar year. Fiorentina in Ro.16, United in QF and Lyon in SF, all beaten thanks to Robben and his insane goals. if Ribery played in the final i think Bayern would have won even, and now take out Robben from that team, how far do you think they go? DFB Pokal, same thing. semifinal away at Schalke (2nd placed team that season in BL, only one leg is played), extratime he does this right here to get them into the final:
they beat Werder in the final 4-0 and he scored the opening goal (penalty), and maybe assisted for some others as well, cant remember. in the Bundesliga, he won them these games with his goals alone:
these are only games he won by himself, he contributed to some more where others stepped up as well:
and this is only for the 2nd half of the season, so 2010 (as the Balon dor is handed out for the calendar year). Bayern won the BL with only 70 pts (last season for example they had 88 pts), only 5 pts more than runner up Schalke, which tells a lot about the strength of the team at the time, the importance of the goals and assists listed above, and how much Robben meant to them. they almost won a treble, which is incredible. and oh yeah, there was this WC in the summer where Sneijder was the best player and Robben missed half the tournament because of an injury, but he still managed to score in 2 knockout games (2-1 vs Slovakia and 3-2 vs Uruguay).
so yeah, to me he was the best in the world that year, and yes, Ribery should have won in 2013 too. but thats the FIFA Balon dor to you, luckily France Football took it away from them, but its a shame these 2 greats will both retire without winning it once