Robben and I are not the best of friends, admits Ribery

Posted Friday, June 08, 2012 by Goal.com

Franck Ribery has admitted that he is not the best of friends with his Bayern Munich team-mate Arjen Robben.

The France international and his Dutch counterpart had to be pulled apart after an angry exchange of words at half-time during the Bavarians' Champions League semi-final first-leg clash with Real Madrid in April, and the former Galatasaray winger was reportedly fined €50,000 for striking his colleague.

Ribery made a point of fist-bumping Robben after netting the winner in the Bundesliga clash with Werder Bremen the following weekend, but the 29-year-old has confessed that while the pair continue to have the utmost respect for one another, they are by no means close.

"We are not the best friends in the world," the former Marseille man admitted during an interview with Kicker. "But we respect each other. We are completely different."

Bayern went onto defeat Madrid in spite of Ribery and Robben's dressing-room bust-up, but Jupp Heynckes' men were ultimately left heartbroken after being beaten by Chelsea on penalties in the final.

The Bavarians had dominated the tournament decider at the Allianz Arena from start to finish, and Ribery admitted that that only made the loss even more difficult to take.

"I thought that was our final, our trophy," he explained. "[At the end] I was on the ground, broken in spirit, body - in every way."

Ribery is currently preparing for his country's Euro 2012 opener against England on June 11.