The Hague (AFP)

His heart told him to continue, but not his body. The talented Dutch drifter Arjen Robben on Thursday put an end to his huge career, the "crystal player" admitting at 35 to be used by his injuries repeatedly.

"It's definitely the toughest decision I've ever had in my career," said the elegant N.10, celebrated for his velvet left foot and confusing hooks.

Without a contract since June 30, the former star of Bayern Munich would have liked to taste a little more sports games, but a fragile physique prevents him from continuing. "A decision in which + heart + and + spirit + have collided," he summed up in a statement quoted by the Dutch media.

The last appearance of the artist "Oranje" will take place on June 25 in Berlin, after a final of the German Cup won against Leipzig (3-0), alongside his accomplice Franck Ribery.

Robben's trophy cupboard, eight-time German champion in a decade at Bayern, was in any case already full. With the "Rekordmeister", he also raised the Champions League in 2013, scoring the winning goal (2-1) of a thrilling final against Dortmund.

In Munich, Robben will have embodied Bayern's winning, fighting and self-sacrificing values. The public is grateful to him: in early May, when he came home after five months of injury, the Allianz Arena roared with happiness.

"This fan reception was pure goosebumps," said the Dutchman, whose career was chopped by injuries. In Madrid, he even earned the nickname "crystal player" for his physical fragility.

- "Still play 4, 5 years" -

Leaving Bayern was already painful for him: "All starts hurt, but you have to see things in a positive way, everything has an end, it was ten incredibly beautiful years."

Clutching the crampons must be a real heartbreak for the Dutch winger, retired from the selection since 2017.

"I want to continue playing, but I do not want to spend five months stopped by one or more injuries, it has no interest.I know my body, I still have the physical strength, the endurance, the I can still play four, five years, as long as I'm safe from injuries, "he said recently.

Champion of England twice with Chelsea (2005-2006) and Spain (2008) with Real Madrid, Robben has never reached the top with the Netherlands.

His greatest regret will be the World Cup final lost in 2010 against Spain (0-1 in overtime), including a missed face-to-face against Iker Casillas on the hour of play, when both teams were still tied.

If the Dutchman did not put his name on the list of winners of the queen competition, he left the memory of a twirling player, defensive dynamitor renowned for his "special": transplanting inwards from the right, bypassing the defenders and strike from the left in the opposite window.

"Robben is doing the same thing all the time and everyone knows it, but he has a thrust and an exceptional sense of purpose," Raphael Guerreiro, who was in Dortmund today, said of him a few years ago. which is cruel is that I think that in the head of the defenders, you want to tell you that it will change, that precisely, this time, it will not do it. , everytime it's the same"?.

For the defenders, the Dutch retreat means the end of a nightmare. But Robben had surely dreamed of a happier epilogue.

? 2019 AFP