Despite bowing out of the Champions League and DFB-Pokal, the winger disagrees that the Bavarians fell short of their season targets
Arjen Robben has rubbished the suggestion that Bayern Munich’s season was a failure because they only won the Bundesliga title.
The Bavarians had been considered one of the top candidates to secure a treble last term, but injury issues scuppered their season as they crashed out of the semi-finals of the Champions League and DFB-Pokal to Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund, respectively.
Nevertheless, Robben asserts the club had been the victims of unrealistic expectation and argued that some perspective should be applied to evaluations of their 2014-15 campaign.
“I laugh when I hear all those things [about failure],” the 31-year-old addressed Kicker. “There is no reason to be ashamed of this season. On the contrary, I think the evaluation is too radical.
“If you win, everything is great; if you lose, everything is bad. That’s not fair. We had a season after a World Cup. Look at the lines people wrote ahead of the season. Everyone agreed that it will be the hardest season for us since years.
“And then? We won the league with a ten-point lead. That’s a great effort. It mustn’t happen that everything, the coach or the players, are called into question after such a season. That’s totally unfounded.”
The Netherlands international then refuted claims he had become a liability after missing big matches in 2015 due to injury, and backed a fit-again Bayern squad for silverware next term.
“Such specualtion is nonsense. I was in really good shape over most of the season] and just as excited about playing the games against Leverkusen, Dortmund, Porto or Barcelona,” Robben insisted.
“I am still fit and feel like I am able to play at this level for a few more years.
“I have a lot of trust in our squad. Look at our team – Javi Martinez will be fit again, Thiago [Alcantara] is able to take part in the whole pre-season, Franck Ribery and I are coming back, David Alaba will be fit.
“It is just important that we can practice together as a whole from the beginning next season. I am really looking forward to it.”