Two Bayern Munich legends bowed out today in the best possible way.
Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery each played their last game for the Bundesliga giants, and they both made it onto the scoresheet in a 5-1 win against Eintracht Frankfurt which sealed the league crown for their club.
Both men have played in each of the last seven seasons, all of which have seen Bayern lift the trophy as the best club in Germany.
Ribery added the fourth goal, and Robben the fifth, after Kingsley Coman, David Alaba and fellow-substitute Renato Sanches had each scored.
Bayern were briefly in danger of falling at the final hurdle. Sebastian Haller cancelled out Coman’s opener and rivals Borussia Dortmund were winning.
A second Frankfurt goal could have meant Bayern were pipped by Dortmund, but they pulled away to give their departing legends a fitting send-off.
After the game, Robben who signed off after a decade in Bavaria with his 99th Bundesliga goal, spoke of his ‘happy ending’.
“Today was important,” the Dutch winger told bundesliga.com .
“You put everything into it and want to, of course, enjoy your last game here, in your own stadium with your own fans.
“This had to be something big along with the championship and it was a happy ending.”
Ribery, who has been with Bayern even longer, 12 years, and now holds the club record for most titles won, with nine, picked out the team’s treble winning season as his greatest memory.
“It was tough, but the main thing is that we’re champions. That’s my last great moment in the Allianz Arena.
“It wasn’t just a couple of years I was here, it was 12. I had so many great moments here, but the best season was 2012-13.
“What we achieved that year was crazy. When I came here my book was open, now it’s closed, but it’s what’s inside that’ll stay with me for the rest of my life.”
Striker Robert Lewandowski was also caught up in the emotion of the day.
“Before the games I saw Arjen and Franck’s families and I have to say I almost cried,” he said.
“I wanted to win for them all today, Arjen, Franck and Rafa [Rafinha, who has also played his last Bayern game].”
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