ROBBEN BACK FOR LAST DANCE
ARJEN ROBBEN has been coaxed out of retirement with a little help from basketball legend Michael Jordan. A year after hanging up his boots with Bayern Munich, Robben was yesterday unveiled on a one-year deal by his first club FC Groningen. The Dutch club failed to convince Robben to join last summer, but won the 36-year-old over at the second attempt by playing him clips of acclaimed Jordan documentary
The Last Dance along with images of his own glittering career. Groningen technical director Mark- Jan Fledderus said: ‘We went to Munich to speak to him about coming to play for us just days after he retired. It didn’t happen. But we kept in touch and then arranged secretly with his wife to travel down and talk to him again last month.’ In Spain, fresh questions about the future of Barcelona coach Quique Setien surfaced after reports of players confronting him in the dressing room after a 2-2 draw at Celta Vigo on Saturday. Luis Suarez, who had scored both of Barca’s goals, had a dig at the coaching staff when asked why they had dropped points on the road for the second straight game. ‘That’s why coaches are there, to analyse those situations,’ said the former Liverpool striker. ‘We’re there to do our best on the pitch. Away from home, we’re dropping important points that we didn’t drop in other seasons.’ And inside the dressing room Setien, who was only appointed in
January, was said to have been criticised by his stars over tactical decisions. Villarreal boosted their bid to break into the top four with a 2-0 win over Valencia, with Paco Alcacer opening the scoring before Gerard Moreno’s sublime volley, teed up by an audacious assist from former Arsenal midfielder Santi Cazorla. In Italy, Chris Smalling gave away a penalty as Roma lost 2-0 at AC Milan to leave them fifth, nine points off fourth-placed Atalanta in the race for a Champions League spot.