page_title: Ruud van Nistelrooy
section_title: 2005–06
hierarchical_section_title: Ruud van Nistelrooy / Club career / Manchester United / 2005–06
caption_attribution_description: Ruud van Nistelrooy playing for Manchester United. Cropped from original source.
context_page_description: Rutgerus Johannes Martinus van Nistelrooy is a Dutch football coach and former player. He is currently the coach of the PSV Eindhoven under-19s team and assistant manager for Netherlands.
  A former striker, Van Nistelrooy is often considered one of the best strikers of his generation. He has been the top scorer in three separate UEFA Champions League seasons, and is the sixth-highest goalscorer in the competition's history with 56 goals. He has also been the 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 Eindhoven, 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.
context_section_description: At the start of the 2005–06 season, Van Nistelrooy scored in United's first four Premier League games. He finished as the second-highest league scorer with 21 goals, behind Arsenal's Thierry Henry. However, he was benched for the League Cup Final against Wigan Athletic, fuelling speculation of a rift between him and Alex Ferguson, which Van Nistelrooy denied. He was nonetheless left on the bench for six consecutive league matches, and though he then returned to the starting line-up and scored match-winners against West Ham United and Bolton Wanderers, fresh doubt spread over Van Nistelrooy's future when he was benched for United's season finale win over Charlton Athletic. Ferguson claimed that Van Nistelrooy was angry at the decision and left the stadium three hours before kick-off. On 9 May 2006, it was reported that Van Nistelrooy's exclusion from the squad was due to a training session fight between him and teammate Cristiano Ronaldo. Van Nistelrooy allegedly criticised Ronaldo's tendency to hold onto the ball instead of passing to his teammates, which sparked the fight, after which Van Nistelrooy remarked, "Go crying to your daddy," which was in reference to United's Portuguese assistant manager, Carlos Queiroz. Ronaldo, however, took the statement literally and allegedly broke into tears since his father José had died eight months previously. Van Nistelrooy later apologised to Ferguson for his behaviour in the previous few months.
  Van Nistelrooy signed with Spanish La Liga side Real Madrid on 28 July, departing Old Trafford after five seasons with a total of 150 goals in 219 appearances, with his final goal coming on 1 April against Bolton, scoring what proved to be the winning goal. With 38 goals, he is also the club's second all-time European goalscorer, behind Wayne Rooney.
caption: Van Nistelrooy in United colours against Chelsea
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