Five Amazing Arjen Robben Facts No One Talks About

Bayern Munich will go into this winter break as the undoubted champions of the Bundesliga so far this season. 

Pep Guardiola's team have been a step ahead of the chasing back from day one, vanquishing all before them, and they have done their very best to ensure the German top division keeps its notorious one-team-league label. 

Yet among this flawless team is one individual who deserves slightly more applause than the rest; Arjen Robben. The Bavarian club's stand-out performer in the first half of the season and the man who's dragging this side to another Bundesliga trophy. 

Here's what nobody else is saying about the gifted Dutchman in the prime of his career. 

If not stated, all stats used in this article come from Transfermarkt.com.

"Ach, Arjen Robben is a great player, but he's always injured." That is generally what most people used to say about Robben when he played for Chelsea and then Real Madrid. A wonderful talent with the whole sport awaiting him but more often than not stuck on the injury list. 

Yet when we take a look through the winger's injury history we see a completely different story. At least since he's been at Bayern. 

Aside from a torn muscle injury during the 2010/11 season, Robben has only been out of action for more than a month on two occasions in the past three seasons. With only a flesh wound last December, which saw him miss 11 games, getting in the way of a full year of back-to-back football. 

Robben may have once been no more than glass knees and ankles, but he now puts in as much of a shift as any other at Bayern from one season to the next. 

Typically players of Robben's style tend to be rather poor passers of the ball. Raised through their academies with the ball glued to their toe while they run full-speed with their head down towards goal; the winger's job isn't to pick out a pass but run past that defence and score. 

Yet what makes this player so special is that despite having the ability to dart past any defender in the world, he can also pick out a pass and start play as well as any central midfielder at Bayern. With four assists in just 18 games this season to show for that. 

Once regarded as the first possible casualty of Guardiola's new reign at Bayern, the Dutchman has gone on to become one of his most important players. Playing his usual wing position, but now as a playmaker as well as a goalscoring forward. 

Robben may be renowned for this ability to play with the ball on the ground, where he can dart, jink and weave his way past opponents, yet the winger has in recent seasons taken to the air in quite a startling display of talent.

As unexpected as it is impressive, the Bayern forward now looks as adept at headering in a well-calculated cross as he would be simply volleying it past the opposing goalkeeper. 

According to Squawka, Robben has scored just as many goals with his head as he has with his weaker right foot. Showing us all that the winger is just as dangerous at finishing off a set piece as he is taking one. 

There's a tendency in the modern game to analyse every single aspect of a footballer's performance from one game to the next, and as such we can sometimes find ourselves distracted from the overall manner in which any given player has played that day. 

This has led to fans and critics alike searching for faults in a player's game that simply aren't there. We were once told that Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi shied away from big games, which was simply never true, and unfortunately Robben fell victim to a similar stunt earlier in his career. 

Yet when we look at the facts it couldn't be more wrong. 

The Dutchman has, for example, scored more goals against Borussia Dortmund in his time at Bayern than any other club in Germany and scored three goals and an assist in nine games against Barcelona in the Champions League, among numerous others. 

Quite simply; Robben thrives in the big games and against even tougher opposition. 

Perhaps through his bald head or simply because he's been at the very top of European football from a young age, yet there is a common belief that Robben is in fact a lot older than he really is.

When we consider the Dutchman is only 30 years old, it becomes abundantly clear that he may well be capable of competing at this level for Bayern for at least another two seasons.

He may be a senior source of great experience and reliability in Munich these days, but this tricky winger still has plenty left in the engine to keep us astounded for the foreseeable future.