Home > Ruud van Nistelrooy

Van Nistelrooy started as a midfielder for Dutch second division club-side, Den Bosch, but he was converted into a centre forward at SC Heerenveen in 1997. His coach advised him to learn from Dennis Bergkamp at Ajax Amsterdam, and van Nistelrooy would drive for miles to watch his older compatriot play in person. In 1998, on his 22nd birthday, he was signed by PSV Eindhoven for £4.2 million, a transfer record between two Dutch clubs.

Van Nistelrooy repaid the faith by scoring 31 goals in 34 matches in his first season at PSV and being voted Dutch Player of the Year by his fellow professionals. In his second season, he notched up another 29 goals.

Manchester United had tried to buy van Nistelrooy, commonly abbreviated as RVN, in 2000This page is about the year 2000. See 2000 AD for the UK comic book, Number 2000 for other uses. 2000 is a leap year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar), and also the International Year for a Culture of Peace''. Events Y2K passes without the seri, but he had a serious knee injury in training which saw him forego the 2000 European championshipsThe UEFA European Championship (known as Euro year is the main national football competition of the UEFA nations. Held every four years since 1960 it was originally called the European Nations Cup, changing to the name European Football Championship in 19. Van Nistelrooy was finally signed in Apr 20012001 is a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar), and also: The International Year of the Volunteer The United Nations Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations Events January January 1 A black monolith measuring approximately nine feet tall ap for £19 million, a year after severely damaging his kneeHuman anatomy In human anatomy, the knee joint is a complex, compound, condyloid variety of a synovial joint. It actually comprises two separate joints. The femoro-patellar joint consists of the patella, or "kneecap", a so-called "sesamoid bone" which sit cruciate ligamentA ligament is a short band of tough fibrous connective tissue composed mainly of long, stringy collagen molecules. Ligaments connect bones to other bones in joints. They do not connect muscles to bones; that is the function of tendons. Anatomy..

During his first season at Manchester United, Ruud played in 32 games and netted 23 goals and scored in a record eight consecutive FA Premier LeagueThe FA Premier League (often referred to as the Barclaycard English Premier League for sponsorship reasons) comprises the top 20 football clubs in the league system of English football. It was created in 1992 when the teams of the old First Division of Th games. He scored 10 UEFAThe Union of European Football Associations almost always referred to by the abbreviation UEFA (pronounced you-AY-fuh), is the administrative and controlling body for European football. It represents the national football associations of Europe, running n Champions League goals and was named the Professional Footballers Association's Player of the Year.

During the following year, the 2002- 2003 season, Ruud scored 25 Premier League goals and 14 goals in European competition while leading Manchester United to the Premier League title. He also broke the record for scoring goals in European competitions for Manchester United in this season.

Ruud is a natural striker with phenomenal finishing . He is also a regular penalty taker, and has exceptional agility and balance for his height (1.88 m/6'2"), which is often credited to his previous training in gymnastics. He scores very frequently for Manchester United.

Van Nistelrooy was selected to play for Netherlands at Euro 2004. Prior to the team's opening match against Germany, van Nistelrooy stoked up his country's already intense rivalry with the Germans by saying that emotions would be intensified by lingering bitterness over World War II. His comments were severely criticised by the German media. During the match, he scored an acrobatic volley, one of the goals of the tournament, to silence his critics and single handedly take Holland to the next round. He shared the goal-scoring lead in the group phase with England teenage sensation Wayne Rooney, and was one of only two players in the tournament to score goals in all three of their team's group matches (the other was Czech Milan Baroš).