WHERE DID IT ALL GO WRONG FOR ROBINHO?
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
