What happened to Robinho? FFT retraces a rapid rise and fall
The hot- stepping sensation was once football’s glittering future, hyped by the greats and destined for stardom. But how will history really remember Robinho? FFT retraces the missteps...
Photo evidence remains of the day Diego Maradona breached enemy territory during the mid- noughties. There stood the Argentine icon in a Brazilian hotel room, flanked by two of the Selecao’s most shining stars in Ronaldinho and Robinho. It would have been quite a front three, the grinning samba double act dovetailing with deadly Diego. That famous picture represents a particular mood at a particular moment in time, though – one in which it was believed these three attackers represented the past, present and future of football.
When he first pirouetted into the spotlight, Robinho was described as the defining figure of his generation. Like Diego and Ronaldinho before him, the twinkle- toed talent, all whirring feet and wonder, was expected to spearhead Brazil’s quest to wrench the World Cup back to South America with his own might.
“He can surpass my achievements,” claimed a confident Pele. “We have to thank God that another Pele has landed at Santos.”
Initially, such compliments were not empty hyperbole. Robinho did not just glide with the ball, he danced with it; like Pele did in all those crackly black- and- white reruns. One referee in Brazil cautioned him for his stepovers, trying to save the kid from winding up older defenders who might hack his ankles in spite. He scored a goal every other game at Santos, and former World Cup winners Carlos Alberto Parreira and Zico backed him for inevitable glory.
In 2004, after a grounding Clasico defeat to Barcelona, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez was met by chants of “sign Robinho” at the airport. Youtube had yet to launch, but the young star’s trademark pedaladas had already been beamed far and wide – including to the world’s best player, Zinedine Zidane, who was said ( according to club- mate Roberto Carlos) to be “blown away” by Robinho’s seven- stepover mockery of Corinthians defender Rogerio.
A year later, he was Zizou’s team- mate when Real stumped up € 24 million. Then 21, Robinho had been the worst- kept secret at Santos since his 18th birthday, having helped the club seal their only two national league titles since Pele himself was in the team.
Perez’s glitzy Galactico project had delivered Champions League titles in 2000 and 2002 but lost its sparkle. With no Vicente del Bosque to manage egos for two seasons – and no Claude Makelele anchoring their midfield – European domination had quickly become a thing of the past. The president eyed fresh blood.
Sergio Ramos and Julio Baptista were snared from Sevilla that summer; Thomas Gravesen’s grit secured him a baffling Bernabeu transfer; while Cicinho, Antonio Cassano, Carlos Diogo and Pablo Garcia rounded up a curious sweep of business. Robinho was clearly the headline act; a walking Nike advert who could keep Los Blancos marketable long after David Beckham and Ronaldo had departed. This was the player Perez could build his next generation around – both on the pitch and posters.
BATTERED MAROON AND BLUE
It took Robinho 24 hours to illuminate Europe upon landing in La Liga.
A day after he had arrived at his new home, Real were being held 1- 1 at newly- promoted Cadiz. With 25 minutes remaining, the stage was set for their glimmering star to make his grand entrance. Tucking in his oversized No. 10 shirt as he bounced on the touchline, Robinho enjoyed the last moments of a life unburdened by mountainous expectations.
The Brazilian was shaking off jet lag and had only met his team- mates briefly, but manager Vanderlei Luxemburgo was effectively letting him off the leash; daring Robinho to surprise everyone with what he could do.
Sure enough, he announced himself with an audacious sombrero over midfielder Andres Fleurquin. Even the home crowd gasped. From there, it became his show: a sublime exhibition of slalom runs and deft passes. It was the debut of dreams.
“He’s phenomenal,” gushed fanboy Zidane after Madrid’s 2- 1 victory. “When a team has players like him, it’s not a problem to be too attacking. With Robinho, we will be better and better, and for our adversaries it will be worse and worse.”
Even his victims were spellbound. “Robinho is pure poetry,” remarked Cadiz director Michael Robinson. “I enjoyed seeing one man unstitch our whole team in just 20 minutes.” Barcelona, meanwhile, had not long released their own South American starlet into the wild. Four months prior, Argentine academy product Lionel Messi had become their youngest- ever scorer, and the similarities with Robinho were clear: same height, same low centre of gravity, same explosive ability. But where Robinho was an extrovert with Pele on his shoulder, Messi was the introvert. It had required adopted big brother Ronaldinho telling team- mates – and indeed, Fourfourtwo in 2005 – that his protégé would surpass his own ability in no time. Robinho and Messi first clashed in November 2005, for a Bernabeu Clasico billed as the best No. 10s in the game facing off: Zidane vs Ronaldinho. The subplot of the starlets’ battle simmered in the background. In the 15th minute, Beckham cut a ball between Rafael Marquez and Giovanni van Bronckhorst, which the Dutch left- back got an important toe to – if he hadn’t, Robinho would have been in for a one- on- one with goalkeeper Victor Valdes. Barça swiftly instigated a counter and worked the ball to Messi, who dribbled 20 yards before nonchalantly side- stepping
Ivan Helguera and laying off for Samuel Eto’o to prod the opener past Iker Casillas.
Messi’s maiden La Liga assist as a Barcelona man was a sliding doors moment for Robinho. That emphatic 3- 0 win is forever remembered as Ronaldinho’s finest performance in a Barça shirt, but had Van Bronckhorst not intercepted Beckham’s through- ball, it may well have been another Brazilian’s night in Madrid.
The media were stinging in their criticism of Luxemburgo’s men. El Pais asserted that Messi had triumphed in the “virtual duel” against his young rival. “Florentino Perez’s policy has once again been brought low,” sighed the Guardian, questioning why Beckham was switched into a central position to make space for Robinho.
After Real finished a very distant second to Barcelona in 2005- 06, Perez stood down at the end of the season.
It had been a weary few months in Madrid, exacerbated by the Blaugrana beating Arsenal to conquer Europe for the first time in 14 years. It was time for change.
Robinho, the young prince waiting in Zidane’s sizeable shadow, had endured a mixed debut campaign in Europe. He looked world class in bursts, but not often enough in a Madrid team on its last legs.
“ROBINHO IS POETRY – I ENJOYED WATCHING ONE MAN UNSTITCH OUR WHOLE TEAM IN JUST 20 MINUTES”
The 2006 World Cup compounded a testing start. Unlike at the Bernabeu, Brazil were not a side in need of major surgery – to the point where Robinho barely got a sniff in Germany. He featured in all but one of the Selecao’s five encounters but started only the 4- 1 win over Japan in the group stage. After sitting out the 3- 0 thumping of Ghana in the last 16 because of a thigh strain, he made a brief appearance against France as the retiring Zidane put in one of the most breathtaking individual displays in World Cup history. Brazil bowed out before the final for the first time since 1990.
Such an effortless masterclass from Zidane merely highlighted how much Robinho would have to improve at Madrid. That summer, the wounded Blancos hit back by appointing Fabio Capello as boss and adding World Cup- winning captain Fabio Cannavaro, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Emerson and Mahamadou Diarra to the ranks, as well as spending the thick end of € 40m on youngsters Gonzalo Higuian, Fernando Gago and Marcelo. Robinho was no longer afforded the luxury of being a Real novice surrounded by world beaters.
Worse, he was no longer afforded the luxury of being a guaranteed starter at the Bernabeu. Taskmaster Capello didn’t pick him in Madrid’s first six matches of the season, but the Italian was glad he did for October’s Clasico: Robinho was instrumental in the crucial 2- 0 home win, described in a match report as “a tiny bundle of pace and stepovers throughout”. After Raul netted inside two minutes, Robinho assisted Van Nistelrooy and was named the man of the match, banishing memories of that 3- 0 defeat 11 months earlier.
He was sublime in a goal- and- assist display against Gimnastic, but as ever, it couldn’t last. His starts became more sporadic than certain, although the tricky forward scored five goals in Madrid’s final 12 games of the season to help them secure a 30th league title. Capello was sacked 11 days later anyway.
“When Capello first arrived, I was still starting games regularly, but then for some reason – maybe because of my age – he put me on the bench,” Robinho told FFT back in 2017. “I can’t complain about it, because he was the coach and that was his decision, but I just couldn’t be happy with the role of second- half substitute.”
That end- of- season run set him up perfectly for a summer in South America, where Brazil won the Copa America in Venezuela. Robinho struck six goals, landing both the Golden Boot and player of the tournament prizes.
Real Madrid even won a second consecutive title in 2008 under Bernd Schuster – 18 points clear of third- placed Barça – but Robinho still wasn’t centre- stage. As Messi was asserting his dominance in Catalonia, Real were beginning to lose patience in the boy they had assumed would be his equal by now. Robinho had hardly failed in the capital, but he hadn’t exactly set it alight either.
And so, in the summer of 2008, Real sought to find that equal. As plans developed to bring in Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United, Robinho became a pawn in the negotiations. President Ramon Calderon offered his services in return for the Portuguese marksman, which bruised Robinho’s ego. He had always believed he would depart Madrid for Santos only when his job was complete.
“I know my potential as a footballer; I know what I’m worth,” stated Robinho. “I should not be talked about as currency for someone else.”
In the end, Ronaldo opted to remain at Old Trafford for one more season. But the damage had been done for the Brazilian, who could not forgive the perceived lack of respect from his employers. He informed Real that he could no longer become the best player in the world at their club, and they agreed.
On September 1, 2008, a 24- year- old Robinho shocked the world by joining Manchester City for € 42m. It was supposed to be a landmark
A VOID TOO LARGE SHEIKH YOUR MONEY MAKER
signal of City’s intent; a welcome present from their new Abu Dhabi owners on the same day they bought the club. Instead, it proved to be one of the most garish deals in modern history.
Here was a Brazilian superstar apparently too proud to be a makeweight at United. Robinho had been within touching distance of signing for Chelsea, but Madrid were offended by the nouveau riche London side’s antics.
“Everything would have gone ahead but they put that picture of me up on their website [ in a Chelsea shirt before a fee had been agreed] and Real were really upset,” Robinho told FFT.
The Sky Blues stepped in to spare blushes for both parties, only for the player to accidentally announce how pleased he was to have joined Chelsea. Still, the Brazilian was again handed the No. 10 shirt as England’s spotlights angled towards his sparkling grin.
Robinho soon smoothed things over with his new supporters in the best way possible: first with a debut strike against Chelsea inside 13 minutes, then a hat- trick at home to Stoke and goals against Twente, Tottenham and Arsenal. Manager Mark Hughes even handed him the captain’s armband for a 2- 2 draw away at Hull.
ROBINHO’S SPELL AT CITY WAS HIS CAREER IN MICROCOSM – FLEETING BRILLIANCE, THEN DISAPPOINTMENT
Indeed, for the first half of 2008- 09, Robinho lived up to his billing – even if his team didn’t look like doing so. “I started well,” he reflected. “Unfortunately, there weren’t as many great names as there are these days.”
But such was Robinho’s career in microcosm: fleeting brilliance, followed by disappointment. The timing of his Manchester move was miles off. Rumours suggested he told team- mates they had ‘ the mentality of a small side’, while in early 2009, Robinho departed City’s Tenerife training camp to return home to Brazil – with Hughes’ approval, he insisted – and later scuffled with fiery forward Craig Bellamy. The slope was slippery: he assisted just the one goal and didn’t score any from late December to mid- April, and was even arrested and bailed after accusations of assault from a girl in a nightclub.
At 25, that halcyon Real Madrid bow in Cadiz was already a four- year- old memory; an entire World Cup cycle ago. Manchester was a much smaller stage than Pele expected for Robinho when he proclaimed him his heir, but O Rei had been quick to completely disown him after his exit from Madrid in a toxic cloud.
“Chelsea are lucky,” scoffed the Brazil legend. “This is a boy who needs serious counselling. In my view, he’s been badly advised.” Santos’ general manager Jose Fernandos also piled in. “We are ashamed at having produced such a player,” he spat.
Robinho may have featured for such institutions as Santos, Real Madrid and Brazil but he was not ready to be Atlas in Manchester, carrying a whole project on his shoulders. May 10’ s Manchester derby at Old Trafford was a case in point. Carlos Tevez made
a goal by himself, while Robinho squandered a golden opportunity from only eight yards out. Tevez was everything City’s poster boy wasn’t: a persistent underdog who made the polished star look anaemic in his presence. United won 2- 0. It’s telling that the Sky Blues poached the Argentine in 2009 to replace their No. 10, who said his time in England was “not good for the Brazilian way of playing… not my style.”
Robinho returned to Santos on loan in early 2010. That August, City recouped less than half the money they splashed on him – but at least this time the attacker knew which club he was heading to for € 18m.
THIRD WHEEL IN MILAN
Between 2002 and 2011, Milan homed each of 2002’ s legendary triumvirate: Rivaldo, Ronaldo and Ronaldinho; one at a time, each past their best but with the potential to produce pieces of magic. Robinho represented a challenge they simply couldn’t turn down.
He was 26 by this point, had played in three different countries and was moving to a bigger, better club. Serie A was a slower league with considerably adjusted expectations. The day before, Milan had recruited Zlatan Ibrahimovic to do the dirty work upfront. If Robinho didn’t flourish now, he never would – not least after a relatively promising World Cup, where goals against Chile and the Netherlands in the last 16 and quarter- finals respectively had proved futile as Brazil lost to the Dutch in South Africa.
Sure enough, he looked happier in Italy. His Manchester frown vanished, and he scored 15 goals in his debut campaign as the Rossoneri sealed Serie A. Robinho, Zlatan and Alexandre Pato arguably became Milan’s last great front three, each player bagging 14 league goals for a side that totalled only 65.
By now, though, the challenge of competing with Messi and Ronaldo – who each notched 53 goals in the same season – was long gone. In his second campaign for Real, Ronaldo was averaging a goal a game – impressing another former goalscoring great. “I think he’s the best because he’s consistent,” fawned Pele.
When Ronaldinho exited Milan for Flamengo in January 2011, it signalled the end of an era. Football was no longer judged on aesthetics but pure numbers – which were escalating at an eye- popping rate.
Robinho’s, however, were falling. Ibrahimovic topped Serie A’s goal chart with 28 in 2011- 12, overshadowing his team- mate’s meagre six as Milan finished second to Juventus. In 2012- 13, the Brazilian scored only two goals all season due to injury and indifferent form, despite the departures of both Ibrahimovic and Pato. The following campaign, he started just 15 league games as the clock wound down.
In the summer of 2014 came the inevitable: a third spell at Santos, on loan for the second time, having almost returned twice in 2013. To no one’s surprise, Robinho was left out of Luiz Felipe Scolari’s Brazil squad for the World Cup on home soil. It should have been a crowning moment for the 30- year- old.
By the time Scolari was able to welcome him, it was a year later in the relative obscurity of Guangzhou Evergrande. Robinho wasn’t quite done in Europe – after two seasons at Atletico Mineiro, he relocated to Turkey with Sivasspor and Istanbul Basaksehir – but his days at the top were now a dot on the horizon. When Tite gave him his 100th Brazil cap in January 2017, it was purely ceremonial after an 18- month hiatus from Selecao duties.
Controversy was still never far away, either: that November, he was handed a nine- year jail sentence for the gang rape of a woman during his time at Milan in 2013 ( which he continues to deny). He has escaped prison time because of his right to appeal and Brazilian extradition laws, but that episode is the darkest in a series which have clouded his on- pitch achievements.
Unlike classic Pele reruns, however, Robinho’s wasted talent isn’t black and white. His career can hardly be called a bust – not with multiple titles in four countries and that immense 2007 Copa America success – but neither will he be revered among the greats as he was expected to. When people look back, what will actually endure of the Brazilian’s career? In England, it’s hard not to revisit that deadline day transfer to Manchester in 2008 and consider it anything other than ill- advised.
Despite that dancing ability, he was always a little out of time. He was born a tad too late for 2002’ s World Cup win, the same for 2006’ s star- studded crop, and joined the Galacticos as they were disintegrating.
Perhaps Robinho was merely another victim of hype. Eight major trophies and a century of Brazil caps is certainly not to be sniffed at – it just was not what the world anticipated when he posed with Maradona and Ronaldinho.
As it happened, he was not to be the future of football, nor would he emulate Maradona or Pele; Ronaldinho, Ronaldo or Messi; even Tevez or Ibrahimovic. He didn’t change in Madrid or Manchester – he simply never found his place in an era where fellow wonderkids reinvented what it means to be consistent.
Remembering Robinho’s Real Madrid debut now, it’s tempting to imagine what could have been: carefree and unburdened by all the fuss. Just for a night, he surprised everyone.