In hindsight it seems laughable that there were rumours Arjen Robben would be surplus to requirements at Bayern Munich following Pep Guardiola’s appointment as coach last summer.

The Netherlands winger has flourished under his new boss and no more so than in recent weeks. The 30-year-old was excellent in the 2-0 Champions League win over Arsenal at the Emirates and then struck a hat-trick to put Schalke to the sword in a 5-1 win on Saturday.

Goal’s Alec Fenn said: “The last thing the Schalke defence needed was the sight of Arjen Robben sprinting towards them after being torn apart by Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale on Wednesday.

“The winger smelt blood from the first whistle and scored his first of the game on 15 minutes with a lovely chip over Ralf Fahrmann.

“His second, on 28 minutes, was a trademark bending effort into the bottom corner from the right with his left foot and he wrapped up his hat-trick from the penalty spot late on to make it 10 goals in 18 league games.”

The Shortlist

Lucas Moura – PSG Goal’s Alec Fenn: “Came close to scoring the goal of the season in a terrific man-of-the-match performance.”
Carlos Tevez – Juventus  @AzizMashaan: “What a goal from Tevez #BOOM.” Goal’s Kris Voakes: “Showed AC Milan what they’re missing by scoring in Juve’s 2-0 win at San Siro.”
Luis Suarez – Liverpool  @Liddellpool: Suarez has scored 62 goals in his first 100 Premier League games.” Goal’s Miles Chambers: “Scored and again showed his quality as Liverpool beat Southampton 3-0.”
Aritz Aduriz – Athletic Bilbao @T1J6D: “That’s some technique to lift the ball that way, so hard to perform.” Goal’s Jorge Martin Barrios: “Aduriz’s hat-trick led Athletic Bilbao to an impressive 4-0 win over Granada.”