How Good were Di Maria & Arjen Robben during their time at Madrid?

15 comments

1. Di María was great, for a few seasons he was an important piece in the team. Robben was ok but so many injuries

2. Di María was incredible for the club. Out of all the seasons he played maybe the 11/12 when he had injuries could be considered bad but apart from that he was crucial for La Décima.

   Robben for the 2 seasons he played were from okay to good. His 08/09 season while he was important that whole season was complete garbage. Nothing special compared to his Bayern days.

3. I remember Robben as a constant source of menace upfront, cutting in from the right flank, creating and finishing chances, with the rest of the attacking crew playing pretty mediocre at that time. There were quite a few games that Robben single-handedly won for us.

   I loved to watch Di Maria, he was efficient and extremely hardworking. One of my fondest memories of him is a game where Mourinho put him to play left defender for the last 10 minutes because Marcelo got injured and we ran out of subs – and he absolutely nailed it.

   I’d say Di Maria’s role had some similarities with Rodrygo’s, they both use dribbling to create chances, but Di Maria wasn’t much of a target man and assisted more than he scored.

4. DiMaria was fantastic. Kinda like Valverde (never stops running). But his skill was insane. Nobody could stop him. Robben was just as good on the skill front but injuries derailed him.

5. Di maria was one of the best and one of my favorites with ozil they where so technical and out of this world i was always excited

   Compare it with rodrygo and half the time i fall asleep

   While i do think that rodrigo is a very imporant and good player football nowedays seems dull and boring

6. Robben meh, Di Maria very good.

7. Di Maria was amazing, developed into a world class player during his stay with us, a big part of La Decima, but ultimately was sold because Flo wanted James.

   Robben had potential and you could see his skillset, but he was a part of real Madrid in a more turbulent period, and never really established himself as the world class player we remember him being in Bayern.

8. Damn I guess im getting old when people ask about Di Maria lol. He was a solid player, but pretty hot and cold up until his last year where he was one of our more important and consistent players. We would not have won the Copa/UCL with out him.

9. Dimaria grew throughout his tenure and peaked in the champions winning season. But he had a bad attitude toward the end, he wanted a contract raise and had a few less than likeable gestures towards the Bernabeu.

   Robben was fine but he had so many injuries they nicknamed the man of glass.

10. di maria was one of a kind player. He had an amazing ability to deliver chipped through balls. I have never seen anyone do it like he used to do, not even close. Also he was a fighter, he used to work very hard, kinda like valverde of today, but he was not as strong as valverde, still i would say he was much stronger than rodrygo, he was kinda like vini in strength (lean but strong)

    The role of dimaria and rodrygo were totally diff, positions were same. Di maria was more of a provider for other players, mainly ronaldo. Rodrygo has a free role to do whatever.

    Also upon arrival of bale, di maria successfully re positioned himself as a CAM.

    Also, I would disagree with some other comments who say he was not good in 11/12, he was amazing in 11/12. Everyone was amazing in 11/12.

    I have not followed much of robben at madrid, but i do know that he was great for bayern. He alongside ribery used to destroy opponents. In terms of peak, i would rate robben higher than dimaria, robben was a balldor level player. But I have a special place for dimaria in my heart, he will forever be one of my most memorable players.

11. I kinda feel like there are rose tinted glasses when it comes to Di Maria. He was obviously very athletic but I remember having a lot of frustration with him because of silly mistakes. He put together a great season when we won La Decima and then when we sold him the /r/soccer comments that didn’t watch RM until that year thought we were crazy and that he was the ‘engine of the team’. I saw a few guys say that he was the best player on RM that year, which is insane. People saw that he had crazy stamina and really overstated his importance to the core team

    Overall, I think Di Maria was a solid world class player, but a bit overrated.

12. Without Di Maria we dont win la decima. Without Robben we dont win La Liga. Both had phenomenal stints at Madrid and both should be regarded as Madrid legends.

13. Ancelotti was really cooking when he put Di Maria in a midfield 3 as a mezzala. Absolute workhorse, dribbling and opening up space for the attackers, reliably progressing the ball with every touch, beating the press. Like Valverde, but with Vini’s explosivity and close dribbling skills. He could also put in fantastic left footed crosses from the right wing.

14. Di Maria won us la decima. Incredible player. Robben was an injury prone.

15. Di Maria was awesome, I was quite sad when he got sold, what I remember mainly from robben is that he was injured alot