I played against Arsenal's iconic attack, but no one was tougher than the former Chelsea star who stopped my international career.

Moritz Volz was so loved at Fulham that they ran out of nicknames for him.

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

To many, he will always be known as '15,000 Volz' after scoring his 15,000th goal in first division story during a match against Chelsea.

But more than good memories, those west London derbies mostly gave Germans nightmares.

And that was all down to one man in particular: Arjen Robben.

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

“When he arrived at Chelsea in his first season, he was on fire during the Jose Mourinho spell. It was a nightmare to defend him because at that time he played on the left. He later switched to the right at Bayern Munich. But once he passed you, you couldn't catch up to him.

“So you had to watch your back. And once she had the first touch of him under control, you were in trouble too. So the key really was that the service is not that easy, or that accurate, or that frequent.

“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 in England's top flight, Volz never played for the national team. Germany first team.

He was called up but never made it onto the pitch, and Volz attributes this to a match against Robben.

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

“They murdered us. They beat us, probably 4-1 or something like that.

“Robben was dominant against me and I think that definitely hindered my chances and my progress with the German national team because the coaches were there to watch. They were on me at that moment. I wouldn't say he sucked at all, but I definitely felt challenged.

“I think not long after that Holland played Germany. I was no longer in the team and did not participate in the game against Cameroon. Perhaps largely thanks to Arjen Robben.

“The only thing that made me feel good was the fact that he also destroyed Germany that day. I consider that throughout his career, I am just one of the many that he achieved.”

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 although Robben remains his toughest opponent, the right-back suggests that no one in the history of football had a better left-back than Arsenal's 'Invincibles'.

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Volz added: “The important games for me were against Arsenal.

“Especially at that time, playing at right-back against Arsenal. You had Thierry Henry moving to the left, where he liked to come in from the right. You had Ashley Cole attacking at every opportunity, overlapping. We had, to make matters worse, Robert Pires, who was also playing in front of Ashley on the left side at the time.

“There's talk of overloading one side and there's probably no better left side, maybe not even in history, than that one.”

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