“Is there any other partnership that can be compared to this one? What do you think, Keano?”
He’s very much missed from the Irish set-up now that he’s decided to call it a day at international level, but the Irish football community were keen to show their appreciation for Robbie Keane at the FAI awards on Sunday night.
Ireland’s record goalscorer was the deserving recipient of the Hall of Fame award on the night; we came to take his phenomenal goalscoring record for granted (68 goals for his country, the same as the legendary Gerd Muller), but in all likelihood, we won’t see the likes of him again for a long, long time.
Some of Robbie’s contemporaries were keen to pay a special tribute on his big night, including his former teammate at Liverpool and LA Galaxy Steven Gerrard, former colleagues at Tottenham, Michael Carrick and Dimitar Berbatov.
The greatest of all time, Pele, also weighed in with a few words.
Gerrard, Carrick and Pele had some genuinely lovely and warm things to say about Keane both as a player and a man, but it was Berbatov, perhaps not surprisingly, who stole the show with a glowing tribute to his old partner in crime in the Spurs attack.
Steven Gerrard, Michael Carrick, Dimitar Berbatov and some bloke called Pele lead the Keano tributes! #faifootballawards #RTEsoccer pic.twitter.com/EF0EKNBTFe
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) March 19, 2017
“Remember, you and me, on the pitch,” Berbatov said.
“Making fun of the defenders. Scoring for fun. You running for both of us. Talking for both of us. I do remember. Me playing with you actually made me a better player.”
Keane was also the subject of a beautiful, nostalgic trip down memory lane from RTÉ to mark his induction into the Hall of Fame (see below); an award for whom we can’t think of a more deserving recipient.
The pride of Tallaght, the pride of Ireland – Robbie Keane enters the Hall of Fame at the #faifootballawards https://t.co/cIlBxNDRdu pic.twitter.com/SPuUnwIvkr
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) March 19, 2017
Congratulations, Robbie.
