Unofficial FC Bayern Forum

He has to say that, considering he's playing in Italy now. It doesn't necessarily have to be the truth or what he really thinks. I wouldn't overrate these statements that might also have been taken out of context.

Robben about van Bommel:

"In difficult times we miss Mark van Bommel. He was not only a good player, but also a true leader for this team, a captain"

That was his skill here. He had become an average player with a knack for hurting his opponents, but a great leader and a smart manipulator (note how he usually got away with really bad fouls just by talking to the ref often. Not yelling at the ref, talking to him, maybe even patting him on the shoulder).

The 2009-10 campaign was arguably the most successful season in the career of Netherlands international Mark van Bommel. The holding midfielder not only won the Bundesliga and DFB Pokal with Bayern Munich, but he also reached the Champions League final with the Bavarians. To make things even better, the experienced midfielder made it to the final of the 2010 World Cup with Holland.

However, things have quickly gone downward for Van Bommel since the lost World Cup final against Spain. The former PSV star was plagued by injury in the opening months of this term and consequently lost his spot in the starting XI at Bayern. The 33-year-old refused to settle for a spot on the bench, though, with an eye on his international future and expressed his dissatisfaction with his new situation. This didn't go down too well with head coach Louis van Gaal, and Van Bommel was eventually forced out of the German titleholders in the January transfer window.

Italian giants Milan immediately made a move for Van Bommel and the midfielder's decision to leave Bayern for an Italian adventure seemed to pay off. He quickly became an important first team member at the Rossoneri and his spot in the national side no longer appeared to be in danger. Nevertheless, a minor thigh problem has now completely changed Van Bommel's prospects of playing an important role for Oranje at Euro 2012.

Van Bommel was unsurprisingly included in the Oranje squad for the Euro 2012 qualifiers against Hungary on 25 March in Budapest and four days later in Amsterdam, and everything seemed to be in order for the Milan midfielder. With the return of Manchester City hardman Nigel de Jong to the squad, the successful Van Bommel-De Jong double pivot was expected to be reinstated in midfield for Holland.

Nevertheless, the Maasbracht-born midfielder then picked up a thigh injury and he was forced to withdraw from the Oranje squad due to the knock. This prompted Van Marwijk to change his tactical plans and the national team coach opted to field a 4-1-4-1 formation in Hungary instead of his preferred 4-2-3-1. De Jong was Netherlands' only holding midfielder and Tottenham star Rafael van der Vaart replaced Van Bommel in a more advanced role.

Without Van Bommel, Oranje put in an impressive performance on Friday and they cruised to a comfortable 4-0 away win. Key to Holland's success in Budapest was their changed set-up in midfield as De Jong, Van der Vaart and Wesley Sneijder completely dominated play. De Jong provided his back-four with excellent cover, Sneijder was the creative force in attacking midfield, while Van der Vaart was all over the pitch to make his presence felt.

Oranje received plenty of praise following their good display against Hungary and pundits have since compared the current Dutch squad to illustrious teams such as the current Barcelona and - even more meaningfully - the Holland team that gave the world 'total football' in the early 1970s.

Playmaker Sneijder wasn't too impressed with the Barcelona comparisons though and pointed out that Holland didn't play like the Catalan giants, but that their performance in Hungary was a trademark Oranje display.

Not everybody was over the moon with the 4-0 victory in Hungary, though, and one of the few Dutchmen who probably mixed emotions after the game was Van Bommel. The Milan star will undoubtedly realise that there's little chance Van Marwijk will change back to a formation with two holding midfielders after Friday's master class, meaning that Van Bommel will have to fight it out with De Jong for one spot in the starting XI.

Even though Van Bommel obviously has plenty of quality and many will argue that Van Marwijk won't drop his son in law from the team, it appears unlikely that the Milan man will win that battle from De Jong. The Manchester City enforcer is younger, faster, more energetic, a better tackler and has matured in the past couple of months. Van Bommel still offers something extra in terms of experience and leadership over his rival, but the introduction of the even more experienced Van der Vaart to the team means that the Dutch don't lose much in these areas.

The recent developments mean that Van Bommel will probably have to settle for a role on the bench in the remainder of his Netherlands career. This will come as yet another blow for as the holding midfielder had set his sights on shining at a European Championship for the first time in his career before retiring from international football after Euro 2012. He missed Euro 2004 due to injury, while he wasn't included in the Dutch squad for Euro 2008 because of his conflict with then coach Marco van Basten.

Friday's master class in Budapest could now cost Van Bommel Euro 2012.

Source: http://www.goal.com/en-india/news/2292/ ... w-be-over-

when we let him go i thought tymo will get his place

Inter's Wesley Sneijder has voiced his discontent with the tackles made by midfielder Mark van Bommel in Saturday evening's Milan derby.

Sneijder wasn't amused by his international team-mates challenges, and felt that the former Bayern man went too far in the closing stages of the match, which ended 3-0 to AC Milan.

"He hit me pretty hard on my calf in the dying seconds of the game. I told Mark how I felt about that as it was totally uncalled for. Milan were already 3-0 up and the match was practically over. I'm not the type of player to ask for a booking, but that was a needles challenge," Sneijder was quoted as saying by De Telegraaf.

hahahaha nice one Bommel.

Van Bommel simply cant leave his Habit

Serie A still needs to get used to ti

Van Bommel played a good match against Inter. He even had a big chance for the 2-0 but unfortunately he hit the crossbar

Still he was one of the best on the pitch.

In an interview for NuSport (a Dutch website) Van Bommel says the following:

I'm convinced of my own qualities, otherwise I didn't went to AC Milan. The chapter Bayern München is history for me. We won alot of prices and I was pleased to be the captain of the team.
Many people within Bayern - on every level - dislike the fact that I'm not playing for them anymore. This is a big compliment. I don't want to get my revenge, but the results say it all. If Bayern misses me, do you have to ask in München. They haven't improved themselves, that's a fact. I think I made the right choice.

He says he doesn't want to take his revenge, but it really sounds like a kick in the ***

Goal.com made an interview with MvB. I've highlighted the important parts in bold.

========================

Mark van Bommel was one of the star performers in Milan's 3-0 derby win over Inter last weekend. His strong performance kept Wesley Sneijder out of the game and eventually led to a comfortable win for the Rossoneri.

Goal.com spoke with the Dutch international about his transfer to Milan in January, his future at San Siro and his ambitions with Oranje ahead of Euro 2012 in Poland and the Ukraine.

Mark, let's start at the beginning: how were your first days at Milanello?

MvB: Very nice. Milan are a big club and I'm proud to be part of one of the biggest clubs of the world. I've supported Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Milan ever since I was a little kid. I even have pictures to prove it if people don't believe it. The fact that I got to play for all three teams is like a dream come true.

Will you stay with Milan this summer?

MvB: I'd really love to stay put. Everybody has helped me to feel at home and the club is like one warm family. It also depends on what the club wants though. Obviously I'd like to stay. It's hard to say no to Milan. This isn't the moment to think about my future. We have to stay focused and want to win the Scudetto.

You have already won seven league titles (four with PSV, two with Bayern and one with Barcelona), do you think you're close to winning your eighth title?

MvB: No. There are still several games to be played. The Italian league is very tough and we have to fight hard to win every game. All opponents are pretty smart and play very carefully. They're all well organised at the back. It's a great and entertaining championship. We have the advantage that we have everything in our own hands. We should only focus on winning our own games."

What do Milan have that the other teams don't?

MvB: I don't know what's going on at the other teams so I can't say anything about that. I can talk about Milan though and the atmosphere in the dressing room is just fantastic. We all have the same objective and everybody puts the team's interest ahead of personal interest. We have a lot of great champions, but not even the players who end up on the bench complain. The good atmosphere is one of the key reasons behind our success."

Did Inter's heavy Champions League loss come as a surprise for you? What do you think happened?

MvB: It's hard to say, but Sneijder was full of confidence when I talked to him ahead of the derby. They were confident they could beat Schalke and progress to the next round. But this is football, there are always games that you can't predict the outcome of. Something extraordinary can happen in a derby and the same's possible in the Champions League. A team like Schalke only sits in mid-table in Germany, but they do very well in Europe. I have to say that they took advantage of [Cristian] Chivu's dismissal very well. It will be difficult for them to bounce back, but everything's possible, even a 5-0 win."

Will 'your' Barcelona win the Champions League?

MvB: They're definitely the favourites, but anything can happen in the Champions League. There's no doubt that they play the best football at the moment though."

Did you speak to Wesley Sneijder after the derby?

MvB: Of course, why wouldn't I? He wasn't angry. We're enemies on the pitch, but friends again after the match. It wasn't the first time we locked horns. We previously met when I played for PSV and he at Ajax and also met last year during Inter-Bayern Munich. Facing him is nothing new, but I admit that I prefer playing alongside him with Oranje. Did I tackle him hard? Yes, but only once. (laughs)"

Back to your spell in Germany. Your departure at Bayern came as a bit of a surprise. What happened? There's some talk about a feud with Louis van Gaal.

MvB: Like you, I was pretty surprised, too. Everything happened really quickly. The only thing I want to say about this is that it's pretty unusual that a club sell their captain in January, right? But I don't want to talk about the past anymore. I'm very happy here and feel like I've made the right choice."

What can you tell us about working with Allegri? He's considered to be one of the emerging coaches: you've had several great coaches, do you think Allegri has a big career ahead of him?

MvB: Only time will tell what will happen. All I can say is that he always goes straight toward his objectives. He's very calm and has clear ideas on how he wants something to go. He knows what he wants and knows how to get it. That's a great characteristic for a coach.

When you've already won so much like you, where do you get your drive to keep going from?

MvB: I'm still eager to win trophies. I'm focused on achieving our short term goals now, like winning the Scudetto. On the long term, I really want to win something with the national side. We were a bit unlucky in South Africa as we could have won the World Cup. However, Netherlands remain one of the strongest teams out there and I'm convinced that we could go all the way at Euro 2012. The tournament is still far away, but my conviction that we can win it made me decide to continue playing for Oranje after the World Cup. I'll say farewell to Oranje after Euro 2012 and will solely focus on club football from there on."

Source: http://www.goal.com/en-india/news/1116/ ... detto-mark

Meh... he only played half a season with AC Milan, and he has to go out and say this

Goal.com wrote:Mark van Bommel has claimed that clinching Serie A with AC Milan represents the most “beautiful” league triumph of his illustrious career.

The Dutchman collected the eighth title of his career having previously won four Eredivisie medals with PSV, La Liga with Barcelona, and two Bundesliga's with Bayern Munich.

The veteran midfielder told Milannews.it that the Scudetto is the win that has provided him with most satisfaction, saying: “I have won eight league titles in my career, and this is the most beautiful.

“I'm happy to be here, I want to thank [Adriano] Galliani for bringing me here, it has changed my life. Football is strange – in January I played on a Sunday for [Bayern] Munich, and then three days later I played in the Italian Cup with Milan.”

The 34-year-old moved to San Siro on a six-month deal from Bayern in January, and played a pivotal role in Milan's first title since 2004.

Like I said before

FCBayernMunchen wrote:Let him enjoy it, and the Coppa Italia too if they manage to win it. They'll be the last trophies he'll ever win

And they're out of the Coppa now