Old Masters: in his prime, Ruud van Nistelrooy dominated the scoring charts everywhere he went

Legend Ruud van Nistelrooy has scored more than 200 league goals in his career in four European leagues. He added another 35 goals for the Dutch national team. This footballer with killer instincts left a distinctive footballing mark on the history of European football. So let’s remember him.

Ruud van Nistelrooy:

Van Nistelrooy started his football career at Dutch second division club FC Den Bosch as a midfielder, where he managed to score 17 goals in three seasons. Subsequently, in 1997, he got a taste of the Dutch top flight at SC Heerenveen, where he transformed into a centre forward.

In his very first season in the top Dutch competition he managed to score 13 league goals. This of course did not escape the attention of the top teams in the Dutch league.

PSV Eindhoven

Of the big three Dutch teams Ajax, Feyenoord and PSV, the team from Eindhoven threw him a lasso on his 22nd birthday, paying £4.2 million for him. It was the biggest transfer between the two Dutch clubs at the time and also an incredible bargain purchase.

Van Nistelrooy became the Eredivisie’s top scorer in his first season in 1998/99 with 31 goals scored in 34 league games. He repeated this the following season, in which he again reigned as all-time top scorer, this time with 29 goals. PSV management was rubbing their hands together as his market value increased radically and European clubs started circling him. However, a nasty knee injury put his momentum on hold.

Manchester United

A year after the nasty injury, one of the best teams in Premier League history, Manchester United, shelled out £19 million for him. PSV made a very good profit on him. For the first three seasons, the elite striker did not score less than 20 goals in the Premier League.

Then in 2002/03 he won his third goal scoring crown in the second European league when he managed to score 25 goals in one of the toughest leagues in the world. He left an indelible mark on the Manchester United jersey with 95 league goals in 150 games played, as well as 38 goals in just 47 games played in the Champions League.

Real Madrid

In 2006, the last big transfer of his career took place. After a not-so-successful 2005/06 season, van Nistelrooy decided that he no longer wanted to stay at United. Real Madrid took advantage of this and paid €14 million for him. And so the Dutch footballer tried out another prestigious league, this time La Liga, in which he donned the jersey of the Los Blancos.

This 1 Touch Real Madrid Move

Finished by Ruud van Nistelrooypic.twitter.com/uL4QD86DeE

— My Greatest 11 (@MyGreatest11) July 18, 2021

In his very first season, he became the league’s top scorer for the fourth time in his career, in his third European competition. This time, he scored 25 goals to win the top scorer’s crown. However, he has only spent two full seasons in Madrid. Due to an injury, he practically missed the 2008/09 season and headed to Germany during the next season.

Hamburg

At the beginning of 2010, he signed for a season and a half, somewhat surprisingly, with Bundesliga side Hamburg. Van Nistelrooy thus tasted his fourth European competition. In addition, the German league gained a very big signing for the year.

However, the Dutch striker was already a shadow of the goal-killer after his health problems. In the Bundesliga, he left behind a calling card of 12 goals scored in 36 matches, which is a decent performance, but for a player of his quality it was really not enough.

Malaga

He decided to play his last professional season in Spain. And the one who chose his services was the team from Malaga. In his last season he scored four more league goals and immediately after the season was over he decided to retire from football at the age of 35.

Champions League

Unfortunately, this great player never managed to win the prestigious millionaire competition. He didn’t even play in the final. Yet he was its top scorer three times. Twice for Manchester United and once for Real Madrid. At one point, he was also its second top scorer in history after the iconic Raúl. However, he is now only the sixth top scorer with 53 goals scored.

02/03 Champions League Top Scorer

Ruud van Nistelrooypic.twitter.com/Y30FREOud6

— My Greatest 11 (@MyGreatest11) March 30, 2023

Netherlands

He played a total of 70 international matches for the Oranjes, scoring 35 goals. Memorable are his duels with Jan Koller and duels with the Czech national football team. His greatest success came at the memorable Euro 2004, where he and his teammates won the bronze medal. After the Netherlands lost to Portugal in the semi-finals (1:2) and van Nistelrooy scored 3 goals in the knockout rounds of the tournament, he was no longer a goal scorer.

Achievements

He has won many individual and club trophies during his career. He is a champion in three league competitions. He has been the top scorer in every league he has played in except the Bundesliga. He is also the owner of the Golden Boot for the top scorer in Europe. He has reigned as the Champions League cannonballer and has achieved several other major individual awards.

Source: Eurofotball, Eredivisie, Wikipedia, UEFA, Transfermarkt