I played against iconic Arsenal attack but nobody was tougher than ex-Chelsea star who halted my international career

06/26/2024 05:33 AM

Moritz Volz was so well-loved at Fulham, they ran out of nicknames for him.

‘220 Volz’, ‘The Electrician’, ‘Mr Resistor’, and ‘The Hoff’ were just some of the affectionate monikers given to the right-back during his time at Craven Cottage.

To many, he will forever be known as '15,000 Volz' after scoring the 15,000th goal in Premier League history during a match against Chelsea.

But rather than fond memories, those west London derbies mostly gave the German nightmares.

And that was all because of one man in particular: Arjen Robben.

Speaking to talkSPORT.com in Dusseldorf, Fulham legend Volz, who is now assistant manager at Galatassaray, said: "From a professional point of view, the biggest challenge I faced, an individual player that I found very tough to play against, was Robben.

"When he came to Chelsea his first season, he was on fire during the Jose Mourinho spell. He was a nightmare to defend because back then he was playing on the left. He changed to the right later on with Bayern Munich. But once he got past you, you couldn’t catch up with him.

"So you had to mind your back. And once he had his first touch under control, you were also in trouble. So the key really was that the service into him is not as easy, not as accurately and not as frequently.

"Then you talk about Chelsea in the middle of the park back then with Frank Lampard, with Claude Makelele, with Michael Essien… the service was there. And it was quality and it was frequent."

Despite his regular presence at top-flight level in England, Volz never won a cap for the Germany first-team.

He did get called up, but never made it onto the pitch – and Volz puts that down to one match against Robben.

"I remember very well a game at Craven Cottage," he continued. "It was right after my first call-up for the German national team for a friendly against Cameroon. I think I was 20 or 21 at the time.

"We got murdered. We got beat, probably 4-1 or something.

"Robben was dominant against me and I think it definitely hindered my chances and my progress with the German national team because the coaches were there to watch. They were on me at the time. I wouldn’t say I had an absolute stinker, but I was definitely challenged.

"I think not too long afterwards Holland played against Germany. I was no longer in the squad and I didn’t feature in the game against Cameroon. Maybe to a large extent because of Arjen Robben.

"The only thing that kind of made it okay for me was the fact that he tore up Germany that day as well. I reckon over his career, I’m just one of many that he got.”

Volz got his first taste of English football at Arsenal, training alongside iconic players such as Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp.

He would go from a teenager marking them in training to a senior player tasked with stopping them in the Premier League after leaving the Gunners for the Cottagers in 2004.

And while Robben remains his toughest opponent, the right-back suggests nobody in football history boasted a better left side than Arsenal's 'Invincibles'.

Volz added: "The big games for me were against Arsenal.

"Especially at the time, playing at right back against Arsenal. You had Thierry Henry drifting to the left where he liked to come in onto his right. You had Ashley Cole bombing forward at every opportunity, going on the overlap. You had, just to top it all off, Robert Pires, who also played then in front of Ashley on the left-hand side.

"You talk about overloading a side and you probably don’t get a better left side, maybe even in history, than that."

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