Bayern Munich's Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery: "A happy ending"
Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery enjoyed the perfect swansong after both coming off the bench to score in Bayern Munich's title-clinching win over Eintracht Frankfurt in their final Bundesliga appearances for the club.
Robben, who will leave Munich this summer after 10 years' service, put the gloss on a 5-1 victory as Bayern clinched an unprecedented seventh straight Bundesliga title and 28th overall.
"Today was important, today was the big day," Robben told bundesliga.com after scoring his 99th Bundesliga goal in his 201st and final German top-flight outing. "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."
Watch: Arjen Robben on his final hurrah in the Bundesliga
bundesliga.com rounds up the rest of the reaction from the Allianz Arena, including some heartfelt words from record title-winner Ribery...
Ribery (Bayern winger): "My whole family – my kids, my wife, my parents, my wife’s parents and my cousins – they all came from France for this today. 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 [winning the treble] 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."
Watch: Robbery's fitting farewell!
Robert Lewandowski (Bayern striker): "It was a final for us today and we knew we not only had to win but also had to show people who the champions were. We played really well, had a lot of fun and scored some great goals, so even though it was a tough season, we deserve to be champions at the end of it. Before the game I saw Arjen and Franck’s families and I have to say I almost cried. I wanted to win for them all today – Arjen, Franck and Rafa [Rafinha]."
Serge Gnabry (Bayern winger): "Everyone knows we had a tough year. We came back from nine points behind, and now to celebrate the championship on the last day feels incredible. It’s an amazing day."
Watch: Serge Gnabry reflects on Bayern's season
Thomas Müller (Bayern forward): "The joy is great, if you consider the circumstances you could almost fall into a romance of the past 10 years."
Mats Hummels (Bayern defender): "Great moments, as all three that came into the game scored. For Renato [Sanches] you could see how much it meant to him. For Franck and Arjen it was of course the case. We were all extremely happy for them. For us it is, of course, a great day."
Niko Kovac (Bayern coach): "We’ve achieved something great today. In the autumn we were nine points behind, so huge congratulations to my players. I’m completely happy – and also drained – but I hope we can build on this in a few weeks [in the DFB Cup final against RB Leipzig]. We knew Frankfurt needed every single point, and we also knew Dortmund were leading at half-time, but the season we’ve had prepared us well for what we needed to do. After we made it 2-1 we knew that after a hard season, they would leave some spaces for us to play in, and we took advantage of them well."
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