Any player has a difficult start, even Cristiano Ronaldo. At MU, CR7 has a nightmare named Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Ronaldo cried because he was bullied by Van Nistelrooy
Conflict tension
Former striker Louis Saha revealed Van Nistelrooy once made Ronaldo cry during a heated argument, shortly after the Portuguese star’s father passed away in 2005.
The former United player claims the pair did not always get along, with the former Dutchman wanting to score all the goals. Saha says Van Nistelrooy’s ambition made it difficult for the younger players in Sir Alex Ferguson’s squad.
In an interview with FourFourTwo magazine in 2019, Saha said: “Ruud has such an ego, he wants to receive all the passes. Sometimes, with the development of Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney, it’s difficult for the manager to handle.”
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“Did Ruud make Ronaldo cry? Yes, there were stories like that because I think they had an argument at the time when Cristiano lost his father, so it was not the right time. Things like that happen when two players are passionate, but I’m sure Ruud regrets some of the words he said.”
Saha witnessed the whole conflict between Van Nistelrooy and Ronaldo
Sir Alex Ferguson’s friend Alastair Campbell recalled: “The United manager wasn’t sure what to do with Ruud van Nistelrooy. It was very selfish. The last straw was when he told Cristiano Ronaldo that he had found a new father – assistant coach Carlos Queiroz – shortly after Ronaldo’s father passed away.”
“Carlos asked Ruud for respect and he said he had no respect for anyone there. He later apologised but Ronaldo did not accept it. Sir Alex sent Van Nistelrooy home after hearing about it.”
Van Nistelrooy later confirmed that the conflict with Ronaldo on the training ground at MU was not as serious as what was reported. Van Nistelrooy was said to have felt uncomfortable with Ronaldo’s technical handling at the age of 18, and told his junior to “join the circus”.
Ronaldo was furious at the time, but Van Nistelrooy said the incident was blown out of proportion and quickly resolved. The Dutchman told Gary Neville on The Overlap: “People talk a lot about the Ronaldo situation, don’t they?” Neville said. “I was annoyed at the time because I was used to playing with David (Beckham). We had a kind of telepathy, we knew exactly what the other was going to do. Then Cristiano came in and it was different. He was running everywhere, dribbling, unpredictable.”
“Do you feel uncomfortable with Cristiano?” Neville asked, and Van Nistelrooy replied: “That situation has been taken too far. I think the relationship between me and Cristiano is very good now. It has been blown out of proportion.”
“It was an argument in training. That’s all there is to it and in the end we found a solution together and moved on, the relationship is very good. It was a transitional time in the team with young players. Rooney came, Ronaldo came, young players with great potential. We needed time to adapt.”
“If I were a coach now, I would say the same thing. I would say, ‘This is a transitional period, you need to be patient with these young players’. We were not patient.”
Van Gol’s late regret
Ruud van Nistelrooy has sought to mend his relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson by sending a personal apology to the Manchester United manager nearly five years after their relationship began to deteriorate.
Van Nistelrooy told Ferguson he regretted his actions, and admitted he had contributed to the reasons why Ferguson decided to drop the striker who scored 150 goals in five seasons at Old Trafford.
In response, Ferguson told the Dutchman that the matter was over and he was happy to end a tense relationship. “I was really happy with that,” Van Nistelrooy said. “I said to him: ‘It was a great five years at United, especially working with you, and it’s a shame it happened like that.’ I’m glad it’s over now.”
Van Nistelrooy regrets what he did to Ronaldo
The relationship between the two men became so strained that when Van Nistelrooy moved to Real Madrid for £10.3m in 2006, he cited tension as the sole reason he left Old Trafford. However, they were also key to each other’s success during Van Nistelrooy’s time in Manchester. And in an interview with Voetball International magazine, the Dutchman explained why he waited until now to contact his former boss.
“I thought about it for a while and talked to my wife,” he said. “Two or three times a year I said to myself, ‘It’s a shame it ended like that with Ferguson. I wanted to do something about it. My wife suggested I send a message to Ferguson to see if he wanted to talk, and when I sent a message asking if I could call him, he said, ‘Okay, call me at this day and time.’ I called him and he said, ‘Okay, fine, go ahead.’ I said I wanted to apologise for what happened and he said, ‘Okay, I appreciate that, when we meet again it’ll be fine.’ It was nice to know that.”
