Yes, I liked to party but the English boys went out more than me!
A decade ago Robinho was Man City’s first huge signing — now he wants to go back to see Jesus... and the kit man
Bellamy, oh Bellamy! He was screaming at me ... I didn’t speak much English but I got the gist
JuMPING out of his convertible car and bounding into a meeti n g room at Atleti c o Mineiro’s training ground, Robinho breaks into a grin, puts on his finest impression of a Mancunian and shouts, ‘Come on you Blues!’
‘Ha ha ha!’, he chuckles. ‘ This reminds me, I need to go to Manchester and see a Gabriel Jesus goal. Phwoar, what a player — strong, fast, a big hope for Brazil. But Manchester — how is Chappy (Les Chapman) the kit man? I need to see him. He taught me some English and I taught him Portuguese. At home, I still have the boots I played with at City and I have a shirt on the wall.
‘I liked Manchester, the club, the restaurants... but let us not forget the discotecas. Ha ha ha! Deansgate Locks was fun. There was an image of me as a party guy. And yes, I liked to party. But you know, the English boys were going out more than the Brazilians! Joe Hart was out all the time, Micah Richards the same, Shaun Wright-Phillips was always out! But when the Brazilians went out we were always caught.’
Robinho, it quickly emerges, is going to be entertaining company. The Brazilian is now 33 but his team in the Champions League that could be a direct rival.’
At his best, Robinho embodied all we admire about Brazilian football. The dancing feet, the shimmies, the goals, the trademark thumb-inmouth celebration. He was a reminder that football is meant to be fun. At Santos, he was once booked for humiliating defenders with too many step-overs.
At City, he made an electric start under Mark Hughes, scoring 12 goals by New Year’s Day in his first season.
‘When I arrived, Micah Richards told me the world would now start taking City seriously. Before that people did not respect City. But now the Blues were coming. I spoke a few times with the owner Sheik Mansour. He told me he was going to go big to get Kaka and Lionel Messi. Kaka was close. But Messi...’
He lets out a giggle. ‘I think Messi was beyond them. But I believed in the project. The Sheik had the ambition to create the best team in the world and now look at them. They have the best manager in the world in Pep Guardiola and can go toe-to-toe with anyone.
‘I remember we beat Hull City 5-1 and a fan came up to me emotional because he could not remember City winning a game by that margin. I was there when Carlos Tevez arrived.
‘I loved the rivalry with Fergie and the “Welcome to Manchester” billboard.’
As the season evolved, Robinho became l ess consistent. He exasperated Hughes with his performances away from home and escaped from a training camp in Tenerife because he felt he had been promised a holiday. It was a fiery City dressing room.
‘Bellamy… Oh, Bellamy!’ he grins. ‘I remember I had a bad game at Arsenal. I had travelled back from a Brazil game and I was dead — completely knackered. Craig Bellamy kicked off in the dressing room. He was screaming at me. And I didn’t speak much English but I got the gist. He was shouting, “Come on, f****** come on!” We had a row but the next day we were fine.
‘I really liked Hughes — we only had that one issue in Tenerife. Looking back, I was extremely explosive at that time. I was young. I had a different personality. I lacked maturity and the ability to stop, think with a clear mind and consider consequences before taking decisions. Only age and experience can bring you this. For sure, the Robinho of today would do things differently.
‘I don’t agree though that my away performances were different from my ones at home. The team as a whole played differently away. Another thing: I wasn’t afraid of the physicality. In Brazil, I didn’t have it easy growing up. People would kick you. Italy was the hardest league to score goals in. Those guys just love defending. But Rio Ferdinand is the hardest opponent I have faced — strong and quick. He didn’t kick you. He was so classy. I could do all my step-overs but he would watch the ball and tackle so immaculately. He only got the ball.’
IN2010, Robinho returned to Santos. ‘Roberto Mancini did not make the most of me,’ he says. ‘I needed to go to the World Cup. I had to play and that’s why I went back to Brazil. Mancini gave me too many defensive responsibilities and restricted me. I like to feel free. The truth is I wanted to be there for a long time and leave a real legacy. I knew the club was going places.’
Robinho has enjoyed a remarkable career. He is Brazil’s sixth highestcapped player with 100 appearances. At Real Madrid, he shared a dressing room with Zinedine Zidane, Raul
and his compatriot Ronaldo. At AC Milan, he lined up with Andrea Pirlo, Ronaldinho and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
‘ Zlatan! He used to say he persuaded the Milan board to sign me. “You’re here because of me”. Is he arrogant? Yes. But in a nice way. It’s just a confidence and trust in his talent. To me, he is everything a striker should be: a showman and a winner.
‘At our training ground, he decided one day to challenge Rino Gattuso to a jiu-jitsu fight. So you had this ferocious scrapper doing martial arts against Zlatan, who is a black belt. Who won? Zlatan! Zlatan always wins.
‘At Real, I really liked David Beckham. Neither of us spoke Spanish but we had a super understanding. We practised f r ee - ki cks before and af t er training. Who was the better taker? Him. But he couldn’t dribble like me!’
Robinho l ast turned out for Brazil in a friendly game against Colombia in January but he did not make the 2014 World Cup and his chances of a call- up next summer appear unlikely.
‘If the manager Tite calls me, I will be over the moon. We have to set the world to rights. Sheesh, Germany. It was one of those “Whe r e were you?” moments. I was in my friend’s house. It was the hardest football blow this country has taken. ‘I know some people expected me to be a Ballon d’Or winner. When Pele talks about you, people listen. People made those comparisons but there is no new Pele, not now, not ever. He is the greatest.
‘I do think I fulfilled my potential. In every team I played I have been a champion — except for City. If you ask my one regret, it is that I could not bring those City fans a trophy. That’s the only thing that leaves me a little sad.’