How was Ruud van Nistelrooy’s time at Real Madrid?

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Any thoughts from Madrid fans and La Liga watchers? We (United) probably had him at his peak but I’m curious to know how did he fare in Spain? I was a little peeved at Fergie for selling him in favour of Saha but the great man did it for the better of the team.

Also I can’t remember if Ruud and Beckham ever reunite at Madrid and play together again for a couple of years?
 
he said the food was all muck.
 
I think it was against Steacu Bucharest where he scored a glorious goal. Seemed to do well, but seems for me mostly a forgotten part of his career
 
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Genuinely can't remember anything from his stint.
 
I watched a compilation of his goals for Real Madrid and he scored a few from outside the penalty box and I thought 'Wait, he could do that?' ;)

Think he won a league title with Beckham there. Otherwise i can't recall too much of his time there.
 
I watched loads of them his first season. He was excellent feeding off Guti and then Beckham once Capello brought him back into the team.

They didn't really have any regular scorers outside of him at the time and he was a big reason they won the league.

They had loads of attackers Raul, Ronaldo, Cassano, Robinho, Reyes (I think Higuain even signed that season with Gago).

Ruud scored more than all of them combined I'd imagine. They weren't a great team going forward and I think people were looking at Utd that season and how we spread the goals suddenly and wondered if it was cause Ruud was so selfish and static but I think that was more Capello.

I believe he had an injury the next season but his goals go game record was still good. (Didn't watch as much).
 
Not sure. His Real spell coincided with injuries and club turmoil. Won a few titles there, though, before disappearing to Hamburg.

I remember being utterly depressed when he left, thinking we had lost twenty goals a season and was in disbelief. It was 2006. CL no marks. Abramovich's poisonous machine were buying the likes of Shevchenko and Ballack. Jose seemed invincible. Scousers were back and surely Arsenal would return.

The front page of UWS. Rob Smyth's notorious article in The Guardian. Just what was Fergie doing? Was it his idea? No, it must be the Glazers. Their bastard debt needed to be paid off. Michael Carrick for how much?

I'd about jacked us in when I joined my brother, who was watching a translated rerun of RvN's first press Real conference. A journalist asked Ruud if he felt other players at United were getting chances he wasn't. RvN closed his eyes, emitted a deep breath and said 'Exactly'.

Then, I knew. I knew exactly why Ferguson had got rid. Christ. What had I ever seen it in that equine-headed, diving lump? Bring on the new season. I prefer Saha, anyway.

Mind you, I'm delighted he has returned as an assistant!
 
Irwin99 said:
I watched a compilation of his goals for Real Madrid and he scored a few from outside the penalty box and I thought 'Wait, he could do that?' ;)

Think he won a league title with Beckham there. Otherwise i can't recall too much of his time there.
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I think Chicharito's first goal for them was a belter from outside of the box too, it was so surprising! Turns out Fergie literally forbade him from shooting from these positions.

Rewatched it and I'm not sure if he's outside or inside the box at the time of the shot but still it's drastically different from his usual repertoire:


As for the OP's question — he was scoring goals at a scarily consistent rate but it was clear that he wasn't quite the same player he was at his absolute peak anymore.
 
As far as I remember and according to transfermarkt: Very good first season (33 goals from 47 games in all competitions, La Liga Pichichi), good second season with 20 goals from 33 games.
After that, lots of injuries.

Btw that Madrid squad in 2007-08 is absolutely bonkers. By that I mean you don't really remember all of them playing for Real at the exact same time.
Casillas, Dudek, Cannavaro, Heinze, Marcelo, Ramos, Pepe, Metzelder, Salgado, Diarra, Gago, Baptista, Drenthe, Guti, Sneijder, Robben, Higuain, Saviola, Raul, Soldado, Van Nistelrooy .... feels like that's 3 or 4 different teams mashed together.
 
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harms said:
I think Chicharito's first goal for them was a belter from outside of the box too, it was so surprising! Turns out Fergie literally forbade him from shooting from these positions.

Rewatched it and I'm not sure if he's outside or inside the box at the time of the shot but still it's drastically different from his usual repertoire:


As for the OP's question — he was scoring goals at a scarily consistent rate but it was clear that he wasn't quite the same player he was at his absolute peak anymore.
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He lit the blue touch paper, superlative strike, deadly accuracy.
 
He won the league twice, as well as winning the cup.

Think injuries curtailed him, but he was getting on at that stage anyway.

All in all, a very successful time for him.
 
Very very good before he had a bad injury. He fell off pretty quickly after that.

This will be an extreme hot take but I actually thought Ruud’s first season at Madrid he showed more ability than in any season he was with us. He expanded his game in ways he didn’t here. He wasn’t totally a poacher with us as he had good link up play but this went up a level at Madrid and he scored some quality goals there that proved he was more than just a penalty box striker.

The sad thing for Ruud is he was part of a less memorable era for both United and Madrid so his history isn’t too kind in remembering his achievements. The success RM had from Mourinho onwards makes Ruud’s time a bit forgettable.
 
I think he was unlucky in that despite being an excellent striker on his own, his spells at the two biggest clubs around came during times of transition, and therefore he didn’t win a great deal. Hence it’s easy to gloss over what he did.

He spent 5 years at United from 2001-06, during which time the treble side was phased out and the Rooney/Ronaldo side was coming through. He won 1 league title and a couple of cups, but it wasn’t a great time for us. Not that Madrid were doing much better, however they did win a CL in 2002.

Then he goes to Madrid - United immediately win the league 3 times in a row, consecutive CL finals, all while he’s playing with Royston Drenthe and going out in the CL Ro16.

You’d almost think he was the problem if he wasn’t such a fecking class player.
 
Relevant (because during his Madrid time):

Can't see anything with English subs, sorry.
 
doubleohseven said:
Not sure. His Real spell coincided with injuries and club turmoil. Won a few titles there, though, before disappearing to Hamburg.

I remember being utterly depressed when he left, thinking we had lost twenty goals a season and was in disbelief. It was 2006. CL no marks. Abramovich's poisonous machine were buying the likes of Shevchenko and Ballack. Jose seemed invincible. Scousers were back and surely Arsenal would return.

The front page of UWS. Rob Smyth's notorious article in The Guardian. Just what was Fergie doing? Was it his idea? No, it must be the Glazers. Their bastard debt needed to be paid off. Michael Carrick for how much?

I'd about jacked us in when I joined my brother, who was watching a translated rerun of RvN's first press Real conference. A journalist asked Ruud if he felt other players at United were getting chances he wasn't. RvN closed his eyes, emitted a deep breath and said 'Exactly'.

Then, I knew. I knew exactly why Ferguson had got rid. Christ. What had I ever seen it in that equine-headed, diving lump? Bring on the new season. I prefer Saha, anyway.

Mind you, I'm delighted he has returned as an assistant!
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:lol:

I like your writing style
 
Top scorer in the league his first season, when they won the league. I'd say that's pretty successful.
 
doubleohseven said:
Not sure. His Real spell coincided with injuries and club turmoil. Won a few titles there, though, before disappearing to Hamburg.

I remember being utterly depressed when he left, thinking we had lost twenty goals a season and was in disbelief. It was 2006. CL no marks. Abramovich's poisonous machine were buying the likes of Shevchenko and Ballack. Jose seemed invincible. Scousers were back and surely Arsenal would return.

The front page of UWS. Rob Smyth's notorious article in The Guardian. Just what was Fergie doing? Was it his idea? No, it must be the Glazers. Their bastard debt needed to be paid off. Michael Carrick for how much?

I'd about jacked us in when I joined my brother, who was watching a translated rerun of RvN's first press Real conference. A journalist asked Ruud if he felt other players at United were getting chances he wasn't. RvN closed his eyes, emitted a deep breath and said 'Exactly'.

Then, I knew. I knew exactly why Ferguson had got rid. Christ. What had I ever seen it in that equine-headed, diving lump? Bring on the new season. I prefer Saha, anyway.

Mind you, I'm delighted he has returned as an assistant!
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Interesting hearing it from that perspective.

I thought the second half of 05/06 (where you turned our lead from something like 18 points to at one point 7 with a head to head clash still to come) was a clear sign you meant business going into next season.

I did think we'd have won it but I knew either way it wasn't going to be as straight forward as Jose first two season's were.
 
He was a pretty neat striker and I always liked his finishing when in front of the goal.

UnrelatedPsuedo said:
He scored my favourite goal of all time while there. Dreamy one touch attack.

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What a sprint from Roberto Carlos!
 
He was incredible in the Capello season, essentially the second most important figure who won us the league

Second season started the same and then he started picking up injuries and he dropped several levels and then was gone after losing his place to Higuain
 
Wilt said:
Cool dude.

@KirkDuyt brief translation?
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Bit hard to briefly translate a 10 min video :lol:

He is mostly talking about recovering from an injury and that it makes you doubtful of your future once you're in your thirties among other things.
 
KirkDuyt said:
Bit hard to briefly translate a 10 min video :lol:

He is mostly talking about recovering from an injury and that it makes you doubtful of your future once you're in your thirties among other things.
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Dank je
 
fun fact. Jamie Carragher has more PL assists than RVN.
 
I remember seeing him score the most audacious chip from a tight angle.

He showed the keeper what he was going to do and placed it so perfectly that it didn't matter. Pure artistry.

A poacher extraordinare who did it without athleticism.
 
KirkDuyt said:
Sounds aboot right.

That's how you ridicule Canadians right? By pointing out they don't know how to pronounce about?
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Yep. Although no-one says 'aboot', it sounds more like 'aboat'.

But anyway. So Van Nistelrooij apparently has very strong beard hair.
 
Was he close to finished at Hamburg? How did he fare in Germany? Madrid had a habit of picking up our strikers, Ruud and Chicharito. Even Adebayor used to play for them
 
He won the league twice for a pretty average Madrid team and scored lots of goals along the way.
 
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