– Now we’re talking, Robin Gabrielsen says and lights up.
Towards the end of a longer interview in Marbella, a TV2 returner asked Lillestrøm a question about what it meant to finish ahead of Vålerenga in the table.
– Garbage, they call it, Gabrielsen immediately replies.
He leaves nothing between them when describing the relationship with Lillestrom’s arch-rival.
– For me, there is durian. We are against Vålerenga. And then we’re up against the rest of the table. I almost get a little angry when we talk about it. People say they hate this and that. But I hate Vålerenga. I’m done with this. “When we play against them it’s real,” says Ruben Gabrielsen.
Return: At the age of 30, Robin Gabrielsen has returned to the club he left in 2014. After nine years, the relationship with Vålerenga has not improved. on the contrary. Photo: Erik Teige/TV 2
He notes that it is “football hate”, not to be confused with “real” hate.
– I think it should be. Not a bad thing to say – she hates football. It’s about football. You don’t need to explain it anymore. It’s not like if I see a fan of VIF I point the finger at him. I hope you have a nice day and a nice week. But for 90 minutes, Gabrielsen says, I wished them nothing and nothing.
I felt like a scapegoat
The fact that Gabrielsen – who played for Lillestrøm from 2008 to 2014 – has a stronger ‘hatred’ of Vålerenga than some of the others is in many ways his Åråsen debut in 2009.
Abdullah’s Problem: At the age of 17, Robin Gabrielsen made his first appearance from the starting line-up at Åråsen. The deception ended when Mustafa Abdullah scored 2-0. Here from the same match – but in a duel with older brother Mohamed Abdel Lawy. Photo: Stian Lisberg Solom
– I was a scapegoat in my first start with Lillestrøm. He says he never left.
Gabrielsen was 17 years old and became the youngest ever LSK player to start against Vålerenga. But the match was a disappointment. It ended in a 1-2 loss.
After 80 minutes, he was beaten by Mostafa Abdullah, who settled the match 2-0.
I was thrown to the wolves, and I wasn’t ready for that. Then I kind of lost them. It was so huge. Since then, Robin Gabrielsen says, it has only grown.
This winter, he said, he caught his attention cheering when the speaker announced that Vålerenga had lost training matches.
– It’s a passion. I don’t have a problem with people. My uncle is a Vålerenga fan. This is football hatred, explains Ruben Gabrielsen.
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