When Robinho got on to the team bus ahead of Real Madrid’s Champions League match against Olympiakos he was upbraided by the gaggle of fans waiting outside the team hotel, as they spat lurid asides, jeers and the odd insult in his direction.

The treatment followed reports that he had returned late from international duty and missed Real’s first league defeat of the season after hosting what local media described as a “wild all-night party” (I’ll spare you the details) following Brazil’s 5-0 win over Ecuador.

There were more than a few raised eyebrows, then, when he was included in the starting line-up against the Greeks, but by the end of the game the whistles and boos had been transformed into applause and cheers.

With his very first touch, Robinho set up Raul’s second minute opener and with Real trailing 2-1 he headed in at the far post to equalise. He then engineered an almost comical penalty that had the Bernabeu eating out of his hand. Darting down to the byeline on the left side of the area, he reeled off half a dozen dazzling stopovers in front of a bemused Olympiakos defender who took the bait, stuck his foot out and caught the Brazilian’s shin.

Van Nistelrooy missed the spot kick, but Robinho spared the Dutchman’s blushes when he scored with a fine curler seven minutes from time. He even had time to set up Real’s fourth for substitute Javier Balboa.

Behind me in the press box at the Bernabeu sit two characters who remind me of Statler and Waldorf, those two grumpy old men who heckle the rest of the cast from their balcony seats in the Muppet theatre.

I’ve never seen them bring a laptop, write anything down in a notepad, attend a news conference or do anything that vaguely resembles the work of a football journalist. Instead they munch their way through a pack of “pipas” (sunflower seeds), shower me with the shells and constantly bemoan the decline of Real Madrid. Last night, though, they left their seats chuckling at Robinho’s bare-faced cheek, his dazzling skills and an entertaining victory.

Simon Baskett, Madrid

PHOTO: Robinho celebrates after scoring his second goal against Olympiakos during Real’s Champions League Group C match at the Bernabeu, October 24, 2007. REUTERS/Victor Fraile