Van Nistelrooy Ruud
Rutgerus Johannes Martinus “Ruud” van Nistelrooy is a retired Dutch footballer. A former striker, he is in the 2017 the fourth-highest goalscorer in UEFA Champions League history with 56 goals. He is a three-time Champions League top scorer, as well as a top scorer in three different European domestic leagues. Van Nistelrooy began his career with Den Bosch, before moving onto Heerenveen, eventually making a name for himself at PSV, where he won two Eredivisie titles. His goalscoring record at PSV attracted attention from Manchester United; a deal was in place in the summer of 2000, but because of injury problems, his move was secured a year later for a then British record fee of £19 million. His time at United was successful, winning the Premier League, FA Cup, Football League Cup and FA Community Shield, along with winning the Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year twice. Van Nistelrooy hit 150 goals in just 219 games for United, as well as becoming, at the time, their all time European record goalscorer, but fell out of favour towards the end of his tenure. Real Madrid then secured his services in 2006. Although an injury blighted the end of his days with Madrid, he did win La Liga twice and the Supercopa de España before signing for Hamburger SV during the January transfer window in 2010. After one-and-a-half seasons with Hamburg, he moved back to Spain with Málaga in the summer of 2011. His retirement from football was announced on 14 May 2012.
Things to Know:
On August 1st 2001 the “Ryan Giggs Testimonial Game”took place at the Old Trafford in Manchester between Manchester United and Celtic. It was billed a friendly game but it didn’t work like that. Manchester United were humbled 4-3 by Celtic. Van Nistelrooy, who played with number 10, scored twice, but it was the Scottish champions who made the most impressive power play. Didier Agathe raced past Phil Neville like he didn’t exist and crossed to Chris Sutton who coolly side-footed home after just 70 seconds. The final result was 4-3 for Celtic. A special shirt was made by Umbro for this game with “Ryan Giggs Testimonial Game”embroidered on chest.
Match Worn Boots
Fifa World Cup “GERMANY 2006”
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During a 2006 World Cup qualifying match, he scored in the Dutch’s 4–0 win over bottom-placed Andorra and was yellow-carded for going to Andorra player Antoni Lima and celebrating in front of him, following an incident six minutes before when Van Nistelrooy missed a penalty and Lima laughed at him. He was a part of coach Marco van Basten’s squad for the 2006 World Cup finals, for which he served as the official FIFA/SOS ambassador. He started, and was substituted, in all of the Netherlands’ group stage matches, and scored his lone goal against the Ivory Coast. Van Nistelrooy was dropped to the bench by Van Basten without an explanation for the Netherlands’ second round match, which saw them again eliminated by Portugal. On 15 July 2006, Ferguson confirmed that Van Nistelrooy wanted to leave Manchester United and Real Madrid announced two weeks later that he had signed a three-year contract after being purchased for €14 million. Van Nistelrooy made his debut for the Spanish club in a 1–0 friendly win over Reggina on 4 August 2006. Van Nistelrooy scored a hat-trick in his second league match against Levante and, on 12 November 2006, he scored all four of Real Madrid’s goals in a 4–1 victory over Osasuna. He won the league’s Pichichi award with 25 goals as Real Madrid took home the 2006–07 title, and he also equalled the longest consecutive scoring streak in La Liga history with seven straight matches, tying a league record shared by Hugo Sánchez.
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In the season 2002-2003 Van Nistelrooy finished as the top Premier League scorer with 25 goals in 34 games, with a goal on the final day against Everton earning him the Golden Boot ahead of Arsenal’s Thierry Henry. His tally included three hat-tricks against Newcastle United, Fulham, and Charlton Athletic. He also scored in each of the final eight games of the season as United won the title. Van Nistelrooy won the Premier League Player of the Season in 2003. He was accredited with spearheading the title win for United with a goal tally that was described as “astonishing”. After scoring 12 Champions League goals, he was named by UEFA as the best striker in Europe.
