Madrid  - Arjen Robben is the great light shining on Real Madrid these days, as the club appears to take off in La Liga based on the performances of the Dutch midfielder who has set aside for a few weeks his reputation as a "glass player."

Real Madrid beat Mallorca away 3-0 Sunday, to get their third consecutive win and climb to second place in the Spanish championship, albeit still 12 points behind a brilliant Barcelona.

Robben again met the expectations that he has generated in recent times and paved the way for the win with his team's first goal, just three minutes into the game. The winger led a swift counter-attack and scored a quality goal after a run from the midfield.

The Dutchman is currently living the bright side of football, with praise and recognition. That is no small deal after everything he suffered upon joining Real Madrid for 36 million euros (48.3 million dollars) in September 2007.

Real Madrid had purchased a player of undoubted quality, but with a very long history of injuries that nurtured a lack of confidence in him.

Robben himself fuelled such doubts and suffered five different injuries, four of them muscular.

However, he has now been playing at the top level for a month, and he is starting to deliver on the Spanish giant's large investment, even if his critics warn that he can get injured again at any time.

Football lives only off the present, and the truth is that Real Madrid fans currently smile while Robben is on the pitch. He is great news for his team, which lacks stars and decisive players.

Robben is profiting from the ideas of new coach Juande Ramos, who has reworked the team from the defence up and stressed counter- attack.

"Back to the time of Capello," some analysts explain.

"The first thing the new coach told us is that we had to keep our goal on zero," keeper Iker Casillas said last week.

His team is fulfilling that, and they have not suffered a goal for three games. That is a huge difference compared to the time of previous coach Bernd Schuster.

The attack is left to Robben, the man of the day at Real Madrid. The media in the Spanish capital, always keen to stress rivalry with Barcelona, have fuelled in recent days a comparison with Argentine striker Lionel Messi, although the latter brings down any parallels with great performances every week.

Both players scored this weekend and confirmed that they are in great shape. The two spice up La Liga and deliver a great show in the form of a key element in football: dribbling.

For Real Madrid, Robben's resurgence is very welcome news in the crisis. The question now is, is he here to stay? dpa