Ruud Van Nistelrooy - a forgotten legend

Although his next season started on a bright note with him scoring in the 1^st 2 games, the most memorable moment of the season for him along with the entire league occurred when United hosted The Gunners. At around the 80^th minute mark, Viera was sent off for a foul which the Gunners claim was a dive from the striker. At the 90^th minute, Forlan earned United a penalty and Van Nistelrooy was the man to take it. He missed. Full power rebound against the crossbar and 6 arsenal players celebrating and pushing and taunting Nistelrooy. The Gunners went on to win the league unbeaten although United got their consolation when they beat Arsenal in the semis of FA Cup and won the cup for the 11^th time with a 3-0 win over Millwall with a 2-goal,man of the match performance from the Dutchman.

Van Nistelrooy finally managed to play in his 1^st international tournament for the Dutch side after they had failed to qualify for the FIFA world Cup in 2002, losing the playoffs to Ireland. 4 goals in 5 games with him finishing as silver boot winner behind Milan Baros was a return the Dutchman deserved after a hard season in England. Despite Holland being pitted in the group of death alongside a quality Czech side and 2002 WC runners up Germany, they managed to reach the quarters against all odds where they beat Sweden on penalties to advance to the semis only to lose to the hosts Portugal.2004-05 season saw him become Manchester United’s all time highest Champions league scorer and also win UCL golden boot for the 3^rd time in his career. By middle of the next season the fox in the box had started losing his starting position to Saha and eventually left the Premier League giants at the end of the season with 150 goals in 219 appearances to join Madrid.The duo of Nistelrooy-Beckham was productive again as they won the league after a gap of 4 years and him winning the Pichichi trophy.

2007-08 season saw the beginning of his decline. Constant injuries and another senseless spending season by Madrid left the striker on bench. He left Madrid in winter transfer window of 2009-10 to join Hamburg and then left to join an ambitious Malaga side. He eventually retired after a hard season at Malaga.

Possibly his greatest strength of choosing to be at the right place at the right time on field was absent while choosing the side to play for. He played for both United during their most unsuccessful period in recent times and played for Madrid just after their Galactico era ended.

Yet, he remains the only player to have won the top scorer of the season award in 3 different major European leagues. Although underrated, he still commands the respect of even the greatest defenders in the world. The only thing his fans ca hope is that he gets his Coaching credentials from PSV soon so that one may see him on the field again.