It seems like the story of the perfect comeback. So perfect, that you don’t usually see such stories in Europe: Usually, aging European stars are going to play in Qatar, or the MLS, to do one last round of jobs on the talent until retirement and the commentator position on some TV network. Only in South America, one can still see the example where a great football player returns home – closing a circle in the team where he grew up, to try and give back on everything he has given him throughout his career. This is exactly how the comeback story of Arjen Robben To Kroningen.
As in the ending scene of the movie “La La Land” (yes, I love it, keep going), one can only try and imagine everything that could have been: most of them in the traditional green shirt conquering another goal with the famous cutting movement, running to the happy fans, who Knows? Maybe even helping her win a historic title. Turns a formidable football player into a true local legend. Pasted on the wall and a statue at the entrance to the stadium. Something that remains etched forever.
But eternity vanished in the dust, already after 29 minutes. Ruben rolled over, his legs pulled back, lying on the floor. He did not cry, as is usually seen in such scenes. He just closes his eyes, with a defeated expression on his face. He realized it was over, even before it all started.
Half an hour earlier, another waved to the audience enthusiastically. A few minutes earlier, another dribble for his enjoyment in midfield, just like a year ago when he played for Bayern Munich. Surely he will soon find the magic touch again, as he did in the friendly match against Arminia Bielefeld (the only goal he has scored in the Groningen uniform since the comeback). Ruben closed his eyes, got up, got off the field and removed his shirt on the way to the locker rooms.
Ruben tried to return once more, as a partner for a quarter of an hour against Utrecht, but that quarter of an hour – was also his last, in the meantime. Only two performances went back to what he had been waiting for – and mostly a crowd of Groningen fans had been waiting for – for such a long time. Since then, he just hasn’t played football anymore. The story that was supposed to bring balm to the club due to the financial difficulties he encountered, ended before anyone had time to move a page.
Most, on the other hand, are still not giving up. To this day he conducts fitness training, with the goal of returning to the courts sometime. But still, he does not err in illusions. “I do everything I can,” he said in an interview with the official website of Groningen. “In the end, if you do not get the result you want, you will have to get it – but it will be very difficult.” In typical honesty he admitted: “It does not look good. It is disappointing. I can not present it otherwise. I still have problems in both calves, it passes from one to the other. We will have to see if it improves,” he said in an interview earlier this month.
Will he really retire? “It’s a very difficult decision,” he admitted, “I said from the beginning: I will do everything I can, I will give my all, but I do not know if it will work. At the moment it does not seem to work, but I still have the athlete inside me. I “Can’t give up. I could very well say: It was great, there was bad luck, but at least we did everything we could. We make every effort, not just me, but the whole club.”
Arian Ruben is struggling for his professional life. What he did, no one will be able to take – the incredible goals, the chain of titles at Bayern Munich, the glory of scoring a winning goal in the Champions League final in the 89th minute. All of these are his, and yet (as the song article) – he wanted more. To really go home. To become not only the greatest player who grew up in Groningen, but also the greatest player who actually played in it. Get out of the poster, become a person, and finish as a sculptor. The results of this effort will be seen soon, but the effort itself is worthy of love.
