Gareth Bale vs Arjen Robben - at their best, who was better?

 

With it being Tuesday, we take on the latest fantasy head-to-head. We've taken a closer look some stand out Premier League seasons in this series so far, starting out with Mesut Ozil vs Cesc Fabregas, but we turn our attention away from England and cast our net across Europe in today's installment. 

 

Yes, these two players enjoyed excellent Premier League campaigns in their own right, yet it was in LaLiga and the Bundesliga, respectively, where they enjoyed their top rated domestic seasons. These two wingers had magic wands of a left foot and having topped our Twitter poll, we inspect Gareth Bale's best campaign and compare with Arjen Robben's. 

 

 

Bale has endured his fair share of injury woes in Spain, and has routinely been linked with a move away from Madrid in recent windows. A big money move to China failed to come to fruition last year as Los Blancos elected to pull the plug on the deal, despite head coach Zinedine Zidane being open to Bale's sale. 

 

Robben is in a similar boat to Bale, in that his injury issues meant he isn't held in such high regard as many would have expected during the infant years of his career, but the Dutchman, who has now retired, enjoyed a couple of unbelievable seasons with Bayern Munich. 

 

Yet while Bale has cut a divisive figure during his time in Spain, with a majority of Real Madrid fans open to his exit, the 30-year-old's best league season to date came in 2015/16, a campaign that started with Rafa Benitez at the Bernabeu helm and ended with Zidane leading Los Blancos to second in LaLiga and another Champions League triumph. 

 

In that LaLiga campaign, Bale was one of five players to register double figures for both goals and assists as he scored 19 times and provided 10 assists. It wasn't the first time Bale achieved the feat, doing so in his debut campaign in the Spanish capital, but 2015/16 marked a one-off where he stepped out of Cristiano Ronaldo's shadow to shine. 

 

It was a rare season where Ronaldo didn't finish as Real Madrid's best rated player as Bale, with an 8.12, pipped the Portuguese star to top spot of all players for the Spanish powerhouse and third overall in the league behind Lionel Messi (8.46) and Neymar (8.43). Much of that wasn't down to his goalscoring ability from the deck, but rather powering over opposition defenders to hit the back of the net. 

 

Bale netted at least three more headed goals (9) than any other player in LaLiga in 2015/16 as the Wales international maximised his height and power to get the better of opponents when the ball was lofted into the box. Yet that wasn't to say Bale was more than capable of ghosting past players as he completed 2.2 dribbles per 90, marking his third best return in a LaLiga season. 

 

However, while a commendable average, it was blown out of the water by Robben the previous campaign in his best Bundesliga campaign. 2014/15 was a season Robben took his game to the next level for FC Hollywood. That campaign wasn't Bayern's best under Pep Guardiola, yet the flying Dutchman was unstoppable down the right flank. 

 

The approach was easy to read - break down the right, cut onto the left and go for goal - but was nigh-on impossible to stop. Indeed, of those to register 1000+ minutes of Bundesliga action, only Karim Bellerabi (5.2) completed more dribbles per 90 than Robben (5) as the now 36-year-old dazzled down the Bayern right. 

 

17 goals and seven assists across 21 appearances, and 11 man of the match awards in that remarkable campaign, contributed towards a whopping WhoScored rating of 8.45; only Messi (8.84) and Ronaldo (8.48) earned better across Europe's top five leagues. That season alone for Robben was one of the best rated since WhoScored started collecting data in 2009/10 as the winger rewarded the faith shown in him by Guardiola and then some. 

 

Gareth Bale vs Arjen Robben - at their best, who was better?

 

"But if you ask me who was the best, I say Pep Guardiola. I enjoyed it most with him. When Pep came, I was already 30 years old. You're just trying to stay constant and not get any worse. But under him, I got better again. He was the best," Robben said of Guardiola, dubbing the Spaniard as the best coach he ever worked with in his illustrious career and given his rating in 2014/15, it's easy to see why he feels this way. 

 

As individual seasons for both Bale and Robben, both were exceptional in their repective best campaigns to date. It's a shame that injuries meant they were unable to play at such a high level in the long run, with the latter starting more than 20 games in a league season just the once and the former reaching the 30-start barrier just the once for both Tottenham and Real Madrid since 2009/10 

 

Yet as right wingers for their respective sides, the pair was considered among the best in their position for a short but sweet period as the duo flourished. However, as we look back at two modern greats, Robben is remembered more fondly than Bale and that one season where he was, at least according to WhoScored.com, one of the best in world football.

Gareth Bale vs Arjen Robben - at their best, who was better?